Paddy prices hit three-year low

Yasir Wardad | Published: May 03, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Prices of paddy fell to a three-year low during the current Boro harvesting season, putting the farmers of the country in dire straits.
Brridhan-28 variety is now being sold at Tk 11.25-12 per kg against the production cost of Tk 20, according to farmers and officials.
The paddy prices have dropped to a three-year low - almost the same as the price of 2012 Boro season, according to the data available with Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM).
A syndication of the millers and their allied traders during the peak harvesting season is adding to woes of the farmers.
However, millers put the blame on 'uncontrolled' rice import from India, saying that it forced many of them to stop operation during the last Aman season from December 2014 to March 2015.
During recent visit to four 'Mokams' (local markets of raw agro produce) in Dinajpur, Nilphamari and Rangpur districts, this correspondent found that Brridhan-28 was selling at Tk 450-480 per maund (40 kg) and Tk 850-900 per 75-kg sack.
In Dinajpur, Miniket variety was selling at Tk 550-600 per maund (Tk 1,000-1,050 per sack).
Md Azibor Rahman, a farmer at Ramganj Haat in Nilphamari district, brought 20 maunds of paddy for sale on Thursday.
Talking to the FE, he said more or less they made profits during all paddy seasons in 2013 and 2014 excluding the price of straw.
"Even I earned handsome profits during the Aman season. I sold paddy at Tk 720-750 per maund in January this year. Profit was minimum Tk 60 per maund," he said.
He said paddy prices fell in the current Boro season to that of 2012 level when per maund of paddy sold below Tk 450.
Khitish Chandra Burman, a farmer at Paglapir in Rangpur, told the FE on Friday that labourer cost for harvesting per bigha land has increased to Tk 1,500-1,600 from Tk 1,100-1,200 three years back.
"It costs us Tk 14,500 to grow maximum 800 kgs of paddy per bigha (33 decimals) this Boro season, but return is only Tk 11,000-11,500 including the price of straw," he said.
"Wholesalers (small traders between farmers and big traders or millers) and representatives of big millers are dominating the market.
"Wholesalers are telling us that price is low as auto rice millers are unwilling to buy paddy due to import from India," he said.
According to the ministry of agriculture, production cost for per kg paddy has been estimated at Tk 20 this Boro season when farmers were selling it at Tk 11.25 to Tk 12.0 per kg.
Secretary of Bangladesh Auto Major Husking Mill Owners Association (BAMHMOA) KM Layek Ali told the FE that low priced imported rice has flooded the market.
Apart from formal channels, a large volume of rice has been smuggled into the country, he said.
Mr Ali said nearly 60 per cent of millers were forced to stop milling rice in the Aman season as imported rice was 20-25 per cent cheaper than that of local rice.
"Import cost of Swarna variety was Tk 22.5 to Tk 24.5 when local variety was Tk 27 to Tk 29 per kg," he said.
According to the official data, private importers brought 1.3 million tonnes of rice from India in July-April period of this financial year (FY'15) when overall import was 0.374 million tonnes in FY'14.
However, the ministry of food in April 23 last asked the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to impose duty on rice import to protect the farmers from price debacle. NBR was yet to act on it.
Shahidur Rahman Patwary Mohan, executive member of BAMHMOA, said the food ministry's plea has started putting impact on the market as millers have begun to buy paddy.
The prices of paddy will increase gradually from this week as hundreds of big millers have started purchasing paddy while the government's procurement drive has also started, he said.
Economist and farm market expert Prof Gazi M Jalil told the FE that NBR should act on the matter as early as possible.
Duty should have to be imposed from January last which might help the farmers who harvested Boro crop earlier, he said, adding that it would also protect hundreds of millers who became defaulters for uncontrolled import.
"But better late than never," he commented.
"As rice is always a strategic crop, its import policy should also be a tactical one. If the farmers can grow rice more than our demand, then import should always been discouraged," he said.
Farm economist Golam Hafiz Kennedy said import was unnecessary as domestic production has surpassed the demand.
He said unless imports could be restricted to boost domestic rice price, the farmers could not get benefit.
The NBR should impose duty at a level so that import becomes unprofitable, he commented.
He said Boro is the major cropping season which contributes 55 per cent to overall rice output. "Its cultivation has become very expensive now, so the farmers need to get reasonable price."
However, fall in paddy prices has helped ease rice prices both at mill gates and retails in the country.
Swarna variety was sold at Tk 23-25 per kg at mill gates which was traded at Tk 32-33 per kg at retail markets in the cities - down by Tk 2 in last two weeks, according to millers and retailers.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and the Directorate General of Food (DGoF), the country produced 34.465 million tonnes of rice in the last financial year against demand for 31.0 million tonnes.
BBS latest data also showed that production of Aman and Aus was record 13.2 million and 2.328 million tonnes respectively in the current financial year.
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