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Prices of most rice varieties were found to be declining sharply in the city markets for the last two weeks, while the lowering of staple food prices is likely to be continued for a further period.
The price of medium and coarse variety rice has declined, and the situation will continue for at least the next two months due to the current Boro harvest, which is likely to continue till the middle of the next month.
While visiting the city's Kawran bazaar and Mohammadpur Government Krishi wholesale market, this correspondent found that the price of all sorts of medium and coarse variety rice has declined up to Tk 3 per kilogramme compared to last week's price.
The retail price of medium-fine-quality Miniket rice is being sold at Tk 66 per kg, while it was sold at Tk 68 a week ago.
At the wholesale market, the price of a 50-kg sack of Miniket rice is now being sold at Tk 3,215, down from Tk 287 from the earlier Tk 3,500, said Morshed Alam, a wholesaler of Mohammadpur Govt Krishi market.
“The rice price is declining, with a range of Tk 100-150 per 50-kg sack, on average. The price fall situation is likely to be continued for one and a half months," said the wholesaler.
Even the coarse variety ‘BR-28’ is being sold at Tk 52 per kg, lower by Tk 3 from the earlier price of Tk 55, where the price of per 50-kg sack stands at Tk 2500, a decline from Tk 2730-2750 a week ago.
Talking about the present rice price situation, noted farm economist Dr Jahangir Alam said, “There is no chance of a hike in rice price in the next two months as the overall yield of Aman and Boro has crossed the optimum level.”
Dr Alam, however, continued that the rice price is likely to decline more in the coming days as Boro is contributing 54 per cent of the total rice output.
The rice price is getting lower as the new harvest floods the market, which is ultimately resulting in the growers selling 60 per cent of their total harvest during this season, the economist added.
The low price situation will not continue for a long period, as the Boro yield in the haor area was good, but the other areas across the country were not up to the mark due to prolonged drought," said Nirod Baran Saha, general secretary of Rice Arotdar Samity.
Rejecting the estimate of the optimum Boro output, the Arodar Samity leader said the Boro production has been hampered by 3 to 5 maunds in a bigha in different areas, excepting the haor region, which contributes only 13 per cent of the boro output.
About Boro production, Badal Chandra Biswas, Director General (DG) of the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) said, “We are expecting optimum Boro production this year against the production target of 22.2 million tonnes set for FY24, as the result of the overall yield was standard and there is no weakness.”
Data released by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) on the production of dry season crop Boro showed that the country bagged 20.7 million tonnes of the staple grain during the Boro season in FY23, up 3 per cent from the previous fiscal year.
Total rice production grew 2.5 per cent year-on-year to 39.1 million tonnes, the highest on record, in FY23.