Even though it is the country’s peak harvesting Aman season, instead of decreasing, the rice prices have continued to rise. According to media reports, the price of fine quality rice has increased by Tk 6 to 8 per kg, the medium quality by Tk Tk 5 to 8, and the coarse rice by Tk 2 to 3. Generally, price of rice increases during the dry season and decreases in the peak season. This time it is the opposite.
It is not unknown to the policy makers that the increase of price of rice makes the living conditions of people with limited income more difficult.
When the price of other consumer goods increases, people try to reduce their expenditure by buying less.
But that is not possible in the case of rice. No matter how high the price, one has to buy as much rice as he needs.
The hard reality is that poor people have to spend a large portion of their income on buying rice.
Market experts and retail traders blame mill owners and big traders for the rise in rice prices.
They buy and store rice when the price is low in the market, and sell it when the price is high in the market.
Though there is no shortage of rice in the market, the traders and millers are increasing the prices by various manipulations.
Even in the last five months, there is no evidence that the government has taken any action against the market syndicate.
To stabilize the rice price, the government has to take initiatives to increase supply under its own management through imports.
In November, the interim government also lifted all import duties on rice and allowed 227 private sector companies to import rice to deal with the volatile situation.
Now the question is, have these institutions imported the promised rice? If not, what actions have been taken against them?
After the fall of the Awami League government during the July-August uprising, the interim government significantly reduced import duties in an attempt to lower rice prices and took steps to increase rice imports.
Despite these measures, the prices remain uncontrolled due to limited imports.
If the rice market remains unstable, it could further exacerbate inflation in the coming months.
Thus, the government should take decisive action to increase imports instead of relying on traders for domestic procurement or imports.
