Business Desk :
Despite a record Boro harvest, rice prices in Bangladesh remain unusually high raising questions about market manipulation amid weak monitoring and regulation.
A visit to several rice wholesale markets in Dhaka reveals only a marginal decrease in prices. Coarse rice is selling at Tk 55 per kilogram, while the “Atash” variety is priced at Tk 65 per kg, reports UNB. Medium-quality Nazirshail and Miniket varieties are going for Tk 70 to75 per kg, while premium Kataribhog and Miniket are fetching Tk 85 to 90 per kg in some areas.
Prices are roughly Tk 5 per kg higher than in the period just prior to the last Eid ul Azha. Price of 50 kg sacks has increased by Tk 350 to 500, depending on the variety.
At Uttar Badda’s rice market, popular brands like Diamond, Mozammel, Palki, Royal, and Rasid are being sold at higher prices. Retailers claim they’re not receiving enough supply from millers and are being forced to purchase at higher prices. A similar situation exists at Karwan Bazar, where long-established syndicates between rice agencies, millers and corporate houses can essentially collude to control the price of rice.
The latest monthly report of the Planning Commission’s General Economics Division notes that inflation has finally started easing in recent months. Point-to-point inflation in June was recorded at 8.48per cent by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, marking the first time in 27 months that the inflation rate had fallen below 9per cent.
The decline of 57 basis points (from 9.05per cent to 8.48per cent) was substantially larger than the one in May, when it declined by just 12 basis points (to 9.05per cent from 9.17per cent in April). Although this has been attributed mainly to a decline in food inflation, which fell quite sharply by a full 120 basis points, or 1.2per cent in June (from 8.59per cent in May to 7.39per cent), the price of rice has bucked the trend and continues to exert upward pressure on the price level.
Inflation in rice markets was recorded at an eye-watering 15per cent in June by BBS. It means even though Boro paddy collection started in late April, the market has seen little relief. With harvesting complete in many districts, the anticipated market correction has not materialised.
The Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) reports that around 5 million hectares were cultivated for Boro this season targeting a final output of 22.6 million metric tons (MT) – 1.6 million MT more than last year.
