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The prices of fine varieties of rice remained high on Friday in the city's kitchen markets.
The minicate variety of rice was sold between Tk 62 and Tk 65 a kg depending on the quality.
The najirshail variety of rice ranged between Tk 65 and Tk 68.
One the other hand, coarse rice was sold between Tk 42 and Tk 45 a kg on the day.
Even few weeks back the minicate rice was sold between Tk 58 and Tk 62 a kg and najirshail Tk 62 to Tk 66 depending on their quality.
In the rural areas the coarse rice is being sold between Tk 38 and Tk 40 and fine rice Tk 48 to Tk 50, according to sources.
Retailers blamed wholesalers for the present price spiral of rice.
"At the wholesale level the najirshail prices increased by Tk 100 to Tk 150 per sack and minicate by Tk 50 to Tk 100 over the past one week," trader Md Anisur Rahman at the AGB Colony kitchen market told the FE.
While visiting different retail and wholesale markets in the city, the FE correspondent saw sufficient rice stocks there.
Wholesalers at Babu Bazar in the city told the FE that shortages of transport (trucks) and labourers in Noagaon and Dinajpur, the main hub of rice markets, were one of the main reasons for the price hike of rice.
They said that before Eid-ul- Fitre, the carrying charge for one truckload of rice from Noagaon to the capital ranged between Tk 25,000 and Tk 28,000.
The transport cost later rose to the range of Tk 32,000 to Tk 34,000.
The government reinstated the 28 per cent duty on rice import in the budget for fiscal year 2018-19 to protect the interests of growers.
In June 2017, the government cut the import duty on rice to 10 per cent from 28 per cent to control the soaring prices of the staple.
The government later reduced the import duty to 2.0 per cent in phases to increase rice supplies in the domestic market.
The country has witnessed this year a bumper yield of aman and boro paddy, the two major crops.
Last year flash floods damaged around 2.6 million tonnes of boro paddy in 'haor' and some other areas.
The country imported 5.6 million tonnes of rice last year with the import duty at 2.0 per cent with an aim to build sufficient food stocks.
The wholesalers said the raise in the import duty on rice to 28 per cent from two per cent was also a reason for the price hike.
"We hope the prices of fine varieties of rice will come down soon," a trader at Laxmi Rice Bandar at the Babu Bazar/Badamtali wholesale market told the FE.
The market insiders said the government always put emphasis on containing the prices of coarse varieties of rice in the interest of the lower income group of people.
In this situation the unscrupulous traders increased the prices of fine varieties in their petty monetary interests.
The consumers suggested that the government intensify the present market monitoring drive.
It would help rein in the unscrupulous traders from making extra profits by artificially increasing the price of fine varieties of rice.
Talking to the FE, a high official at the Ministry of Food told the FE that they were looking to reintroduce the sale of coarse rice in the capital under the open market sale (OMS) programme.
The stock of food grain is now over 1.5 million tonnes in the country.
Besides, 0.66 million tonnes of food grain (rice and wheat) are now in the process of release at ports.