Jan rice buy paces up on price fall

Following a snail's pace in the first two and half months, the government's rice procurement increased substantially in January thanks to a fall in the prices of coarse rice in the milling hubs.

The Directorate General of Food (DGoF) procured 0.29 million tonnes of rice, 58 per cent of the target, until Saturday evening, according to the Directorate.

Rising imports in the recent weeks and the government's plan to sell rice at subsidised rate might have contributed to push down the prices of coarse and hybrid rice, sector insiders said.

A senior official at the DGoF said that out of the total procurement, more than 60,000 tonnes were procured just in the last 10 days (January 20-28) from Rangpur, Rajshahi, Dinajpur and other regions.

He said the coarse and hybrid rice prices were above Tk 44 a kg until first January in these regions against the government's asking rate of Tk 42-43 a kg.

The mill-gate rate declined to Tk 39-41 a kg in the mid-January, encouraging the millers to fulfill their contracts, he added.

However, the prices of medium and finer varieties still remained at much higher levels at Tk 48-55 and Tk 65-75 per kg in the milling regions, depending on varieties and their quality, he said.

Following the current pace, the official said, the DGoF was expecting that the millers could supply the remaining 0.2 million tonnes of rice within the deadline of February 28.

Though the rice procurement drive got its pace, paddy purchase from the farmers witnessed almost a failure this year as only 2,400 tonnes could be bought so far against the target of 0.3 million tonnes.

"Coarse and hybrid paddy prices are now Tk 25-26 a kg, but the DGoF is not getting it despite offering Tk 28 a kg," the official said.

He said small and medium scale farmers have no paddy in their hands as big traders and millers are hoarding most of the grain.

Director General of the DGoF Md Shakhawat Hossain said the government buys paddy aiming to help farmers get a minimum support price.

"As peasants have got a handsome price during the harvesting period of this Aman season, our aim has been fulfilled," he said.

He said the local rice procurement might be completed while the purchase from global sources would continue.

"We have already brought 0.45 million tonnes from the global sources while another 0.55 million tonnes would enter the government warehouses as per our target," he said.

Md Azizul Hoque, a Nilphamari-based miller, said that rising imports and the possibility to sell the staple at subsidised rate have helped reduce the prices of coarse paddy and rice notably.

He said that 6,000 to 7,000 tonnes of imported rice has been entering the market every day since November last to mid-January period, contributing to the fall in prices of rice.

"Though private imports declined last week, the wholesalers, retailers and government warehouses have ample supply of coarse and hybrid rice," he added.

He said that most of the millers in Nilphamari have delivered rice to the government warehouses as per their previous contracts while some are even expecting to supply more from the additional allotment by the government.

However, private importers brought 0.42 million tonnes of rice so far in the current financial year.

The public warehouses now have 1.92 million tonnes of food grain, including 1.55 million tonnes of rice, according to the food ministry.

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