Rice deal with Delhi signed
Dhaka to buy 4 lakh tonne rice at $430; market prices go up further
By Shaheen Mollah and Wasim Bin Habib
Bangladesh yesterday signed an agreement with four Indian state-owned
agencies on im****ting the remaining 4 lakh tonnes of rice out of the 5
lakh tonnes at $430 per tonne.
India had promised to ex****t the rice to Bangladesh following cyclone
Sidr last year. Of the rest 1 lakh tonne, 12,000 tonne has already
been im****ted and 46,700 tonne is scheduled to arrive within April 10,
a food ministry press release said.
Meanwhile, the price of rice is increasing across the country every
day despite adequate supply and the government's safety net programmes
like open market sale (OMS) and direct sale, intensifying sufferings
of people belonging to the middle and lower cl*****.
The wholesale prices of rice of different varieties increased by Tk
10-30 per maund yesterday.
Local coarse rice was selling at Tk 1,250-1,300 per maund; its price
was Tk 1,220-1,270 the previous day. The price of Indian Swarna also
rose by Tk 10 per maund at wholesale markets.
The price of better quality Miniket soared to Tk 1,650-1,700 per maund
yesterday from the previous day's Tk 1,620-1,650.
The coarse rice was selling at Tk 35-40 per kg at retail markets.
Wholesalers at Karwan Bazar, Mohammadpur Kri**** Market, Babubazar and
Badamtoli said the price of rice in rural markets is increasing every
day, which has affected the city markets.
A wholesaler at Karwan Bazar said he has a stock for 15 days and he
had purchased it at lower rates.
"I sent an employee to Chapainawabganj to buy rice but he told me that
the price of rice was quite high there. The price at rural markets is
equal to what I am charging here. Moreover, I have to bear the
carrying cost. So, how can I sell rice at a lower price?" he said.
"It does not matter at what rate I purchased the rice 15 days ago--
what matters is the present rate," he added.
A few businessmen at Babubazar and Badamtoli wholesale markets said
crisis of rice in international market, curtailing ex****t by some rice-
ex****ting countries and India's sudden decision to stop ex****ting
caused the price hike.
They admitted that the supply of rice to markets is adequate and
pointed out that Boro rice will be arriving soon, but said traders
usually tend to take op****tunity of these incidents.
When contacted, food ministry Secretary Mollah Waheeduzzaman told The
Daily Star that he does not see any logical reason behind the price
hike of rice as the country has a reserve for three months and Boro
rice will soon enter the markets.
"Hiking the price of rice is a trick of the unscrupulous businessmen,"
he said.
A high official of Food Directorate said the government has taken up
many programmes to stabilise the market and help relieve people of the
increased price of rice.
Meanwhile, the directorate increased the number of points of direct
sale of rice from trucks loaded with 3.060 kilograms of rice at
different locations in the capital. Employees of the directorate sell
rice on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.
The Food Directorate started selling rice on April 1.
Director General of Food Directorate Pius Costa said they will
increase the number of direct sale points to 50 from Sunday.
Hundreds of customers were seen yesterday queuing up at the direct
sale points in front of the Jatiya Press Club and secretariat gate-1
where the sales finished around 3:15pm.
Assistant Sub-inspector of the Food Directorate Nazmul Haque said they
had been selling rice from 9:00am. He said they would continue selling
rice until all the rice loaded in the trucks is sold.
"I came here during launch hour but found the place jam-packed with
customers. I returned to my office after waiting in the queue for half
an hour. I came here again at 3:30pm but found all the rice had
already been sold," said Daud Hossain, an MLSS at the office of
Comptroller General of Account at Segunbagicha.
Khaleda Begum, a cleaner at the secretariat, said her family has been
suffering badly due to the steep rise in rice price.
She came to the Press Club point after failing to buy rice at the
secretariat point. She stood in the queue from 3:00pm but all the rice
had been sold before her turn came.
Many others like Khaleda Begum had to return home from the direct sale
points empty handed.
A few third and fourth-class employees of the secretariat demanded
that the authorities make arrangements for selling rice at these
outlets after office hours.
Meanwhile, a large number of people yesterday thronged the BDR fair
price outlets to buy rice. Rice is sold at 50 BDR outlets in the city
six days a week.
The city's 700 OMS outlets, where rice is sold three days a week,
remained closed yesterday.
AGREEMENT ON RICE IM****T
Wasiuddin Ahmed, commercial minister of Bangladesh High Commission in
Delhi, signed the agreement with representatives of the four Indian
state-owned agencies--State Trading Cor****ation of India Ltd, Minerals
& Metals Trading Cor****ation, National Agriculture Co-operative
Marketing Federation of India Ltd, and PEC Ltd--for im****ting 4 lakh
tonnes of rice from India.
Each agency will supply 1 lakh tonnes of rice.
Of the 4 lakh tonnes of rice, 1 lakh tonne will arrive in Bangladesh
within 30 days while the rest in the next 30 days, said a food
ministry press release.
Letters of credit (LC) for ex****ting the rice will be opened on
Sunday.
Meanwhile, 12,500 tonnes of rice and 1,000 tonnes of skimmed powdered
milk have arrived in Bangladesh from India. The neighbouring country
had pledged to give 40,000 tonnes of rice, 10,000 tonnes of wheat and
1,000 tonnes of skimmed powdered milk as part of its food assistance
to Bangladesh following cyclone Sidr.
About 7,500 tonnes of rice are expected to arrive in Chittagong ****t
in a few days, said a press release of the Indian High Commission in
Dhaka.
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