Coarse rice costs Tk 55 a kg now

Prices went up by 15 per cent in a month. The price of coarse rice was Tk 30 per kilograms in January 2020.

People throng around an OMS truck to buy rice in capital's Mohammadpur area.Zahidul Karim

The price of coarse rice (swarna) has soared to Tk 55 in Dhaka markets, 15 per cent higher than a month ago. People keeping tabs on the market and traders say, this is the highest rate in recent times.

This record of the rice price hike is from the government agency Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB). The same picture was found visiting the markets. TCB says it’s not just the coarse rice. The price of medium and fine grain rice have gone up too. But the price increase rate has been 4 to 4.5 per cent, which is lesser than that of coarse rice.

According to TCB’s Monday records, a kg of fine rice is selling at Tk 65 to 80 in the market now. Medium grain rice is costing Tk 55 to 60 per kg while coarse rice is being sold at minimum Tk 55 and maximum at Tk 58. Price of loose wheat flour, an alternative to rice, has also gone up by 20 per cent in a month.

Citing one of his studies, Selim Raihan, a professor at the economics department of Dhaka University, told Prothom Alo, when prices of daily commodities go up, people switch from fine rice to coarser grains as part cost cutting.

One of the reasons behind the price of coarse rice soaring this time might be that, people have increased the purchase of such rice. This created an extra pressure on the market of coarse rice.

Rice price and the past

Rice is the main staple food in this country. When the rice price is hiked, it affects inflation the most. Therefore we see the highest amount of effort being spent in keeping the price of this good under control. Even the political parties make promises in their manifesto about keeping the rice price in check.

Let’s check out the market price of rice in recent times. Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) keeps the records on the prices of daily commodities including rice in the markets of Dhaka. As per their data, a kg of coarse rice used to cost slightly more than Tk 23 on an average in the markets of Dhaka towards 2009 while fine grain sold at maximum Tk 40 per kg.

TCB records say that the price of coarse rice was between Tk 34 and 36 on 12 January of 2014, which reached at Tk 38 to 42 after five years on 7 January, 2019.

However in the middle, rice price soared extremely high towards the end of 2017. Price of coarse rice went up to Tk 50. The reasons behind that was the damage of crops due to excessive rain and early arrival of water in the haors. Import opportunities were given back then and this caused the price to go down.

In January 2020, rice price dropped down to Tk 30 per kg in Dhaka. The increasing trend that began after that couldn’t be restrained effectively anymore. The government took many initiatives, but they didn’t come to much use. The price reached the current state after increasing in phases since then.

Current price

Coarse rice (guti-swarna) sold at the rate of Tk 48 to 50 in the wholesale market of Dhaka’s Mohammadpur Krishi Market on Monday.

Wholesalers claimed this rate was around Tk 42 about a month ago. BR-28 and similar sort of medium grain rice are selling at Tk 55 to 56 per kg. Miniket, the most popular fine grain rice is being sold for Tk 67 to 70 while Nazirshail is costing Tk 80 to 84.

Mohiuddin Raja, manager of Barishal Rice Agency at the Krishi Market said to Prothom Alo, mill owners point at the price of paddy going up as the reason behind rice price hike. Plus, the rise of truck fare is a reason as well.

Meanwhile, inquiring in Kushtia and Naogaon it was found that the price of coarse rice has gone up by Tk 4 to 5 per kg there since the fuel oil price hike.

At capital’s Mohakhali kitchen market, coarse rice (guti-swarna) is selling at Tk 55 to 56 a kg. The price of medium grain BR-28 rice is Tk 60 to 62 while, thin grain miniket is selling at Tk 70 to 72 and Nazirshail at Tk 84 to 86.

Firoz Alam, a rice seller at Mohakhali bazar said to Prothom Alo, “Despite bargaining, many are returning empty handed for the price is higher. I sold only 22 kg of rice today (till 5.00pm on Monday).’

Import only 33,000 tonnes

With the aim of reducing the price, government has given permission to import about a million tonnes of rice till now in the current fiscal year. To cut down on the import cost, tax burden was also decreased to 25 per cent from 62 per cent. The import was pretty low though.

Food directorate’s daily report on the situation of food says, 32 tonnes of rice has been imported since last 1st July to 21 August. Traders say, the tax duty has been reduced on the import of rice but, the price of US dollars has gone up quite a lot causing the import cost to go up.

Food directorate report says, if imported from India, per kg of boiled rice will cost Tk 39 in the local market, that too including the shipping charges. Whereas, if imported from Thailand the price will be slightly lower than Tk 44. However, the duty tax will be added to this.

Food ministry sources said, government is thinking of reducing the duty even further for the lack of import. A proposal of reducing the duty tax from 25 per cent to 10 per cent was sent to National Board of Revenue (NBR) on 7 August.

Food secretary Ismail Hossain on Monday night told Prothom Alo, steps have been taken both publicly and privately to decrease the rice price. Price will start going down from 1 September.

He further said that rice will be added to those three commodities (edible oil, lentil and sugar) provided by TCB at an affordable price to 10 million families, through family card. And the import of rice will be increased even more on the private sector.

Economists however believe, beyond the 10 million poor families, another 10 million families of limited income faces the risk of becoming poor. The government provided aid does not reach these 10 million families, remaining under risk.

Long queue for buying rice

Records of the food directorate say, the government has about 1.67 million tonnes of rice current now, which was about 1.42 million tonnes at the same time last year.

Government sold rice at Tk 30 per kg in the open market sales (OMS) from the stock. The queue behind the rice selling trucks in Dhaka is getting longer and longer.

Going to the truck selling OMS rice and wheat flour near Mohammadpur bus stand in the capital at around 11.00am on Monday, a huge number of people were seen standing in lines behind the truck, though sales didn’t even start at that moment. Later at 1.45pm, about 150 people were still seen standing there.

Monowara Begum, a woman waiting to buy rice said to Prothom Alo, rice price is soaring in the market. She was buying rice standing in line for three hours for she can buy rice at a lower price from OMS. She even got injured in a hustle amidst the crowed while trying to buy lentil. But, she is happy to get 10 kg of rice.

Monowara supports her family by working as a domestic help. Her brother works as a day labourer. The woman said she will give five kg of rice to her brother as her brother had failed to buy it.

‘Never saw such a high price’

Prices of most daily commodities are high in the market now. The government also raised the prices of fuel oil, gas and water. Fuel oil price hike caused the transportation cost to go up. The fertilizer price has increased as well. Including all, people are struggling to cope up with the pressure of household expenditure.

Golam Rahman, president of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) said to Prothom Alo, “There are many families out there, who spend 50 to 60 per cent of their total grocery budget on buying rice only. It goes without saying that people are in worse condition.”

When asked if the price of coarse rice was ever this high, he said, “Never saw such a high price. However, the price rose to Tk 50-52 once in 2017.”