Rice hoarders will languish in jail: Food minister

Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumdar on Tuesday accused some corporate houses, millers, wholesalers, and retailers of causing the price spiral of rice through hoarding and issued a stern note of warning, asking them to get prepared to land in jail unless they correct themselves.

“They must languish in jail unless they correct themselves. Slapping mere fines will not be enough for them. . . corporate houses, millers, wholesalers, and retailers can’t evade their responsibility for the price hike of rice,” he told BSS.

Majumdar added that the anti-hoarding campaign has already been launched to target the culprits as the government is determined to enforce the newly enacted law on illegal food storage, prescribing a life term for hoarding as the maximum punishment.

The minister said the government is preparing to intensify the nationwide anti-hoarding campaign by engaging law enforcement agencies, while his ministry has already cancelled the leave, including the weekly holidays of Food Department officials and staff to enforce the campaign.

“The businessmen must discard their greedy attitude to make extra profits,” he said.

The minister’s comments came days after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked authorities concerned to send to jail the hoarders and market manipulators, saying the sudden price-hike of rice and other essentials after the election was a “very abnormal matter”.

The rice market has been visibly exposed to instability for the past two weeks, with several market analysts attributing the phenomenon to the poor vigilance and extreme monopoly of some big businesses. Prices of most rice varieties are on the rise in the capital and elsewhere.

Director General (DG) of National Consumers Right Protection AHM Shafiquzzaman said as part of the campaign, his office would ensure the display of wholesale and retail price charts both at the wholesale and retailer levels.

“Every retail outlet must collect and keep cash memos of their purchases. Joint drives will be conducted against the enlisted rice millers by the food department, local administration, and national consumers’ right protection directorate,” he said.

“The country is currently witnessing the peak of aman harvesting when the price spiral is unusual,” said agro-economist Dr Jahangir Alam, currently a director of Dhaka School of Economics.

He said the extreme cold and drizzle partly disrupted the rice supply system, while the aman production could be less than the expected output this year due to heavy downpours in the northeast and a series of weak cyclones on the southern coasts.

But, Alam said, the “abnormal” price hike could not be justified by these factors and opined that unscrupulous businessmen, including millers and some corporate houses, took the opportunity to make extra profits through price fixing and market manipulation.

Agricultural Extension Department (DAE) officials largely echoed Jahangir Alam, saying there was no reason for rice prices to soaring during this full harvest of transplant aman, the second largest crop after Boro, contributing 38 per cent of the total annual rice output.

Rice prices started soaring ahead of elections, and they continued after the voting as well, while officials suspected it to be the outcome of a design by market manipulators.

Retailers said the buying miniket rice price at their level was Tk 2,850 per sack of 50 kg in the first week of January; the rate rose to Tk 3,030 on January 10; it became Tk 3,260 on January 16; and now it stands at Tk 3,400.

The consumers now need to pay Tk 3600 to Tk 3700 for the same quantity of miniket rice, the most popular and affordable variety for ordinary middle-class people.

The price of coarse rice varieties also increased by Tk 250 to Tk 350 per sack during the past month.

Retailer Fazlul Huq of Sabuj Traders at Mirpur Section 6 Central Kitchen Market said he coarse rice at Tk 40 per kg two weeks ago and is now selling the same rice at Tk 44-45.

According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) index, in January 2024, the minimum price of medium-quality rice reached Tk 62 per kg, which was Tk 58 held in the corresponding period of last year.

“When the rice price is supposed to be minimal during the current time, the price went up for the fourth time in less than a month,” said M Bacchu Mia of Chandpur Rice Agency at Dhaka’s Kawran Bazar kitchen market.

He attributed the hikes to the business monopoly of particular rice supplier companies.

“The government campaign must target the big wholesalers—millers and corporate houses—if the rice price has to be contained,” said Morshed Ahmed, another retailer who owns the New RK Rice Agency at Mohammadpur Krishi Market.

He claimed the small retailers like him were not responsible for the situation, while Abdur Kader Bhuiyan Suman of Suman Rice Agency at Mirpur Section 1 made a nearly identical comment while talking to this BSS reporter.

DAE Director General Badal Chandra Biswas called the rice market situation “an anarchy” and “we need cooperation from all quarters to stop it.”

“This is unethical and not at all acceptable.”

An ordinary employee of a private ICT firm, Sohrab Hossain, expressed his frustration over the quick price spiral of rice, saying “life is becoming tougher” and “it became hard for me to run a five-member family with a Tk 25,000 monthly salary”.

Bangladesh Auto Husking Mill Owners Association President M Abdur Rashid acknowledged that rice price mounted fast in recent weeks, claiming that the hike was caused by a lack of paddy supplies and less imports.

“The price has gone down again. The situation has already become normal,” he claimed further.

Rashid refused the allegation of unholy syndication on their part, saying, “We are doing business amid hard competition, so there is no more existence of syndication, particularly in the rice market.”