Rice prices rising despite ample harvests

Rice prices are rising in spite of an ample amount being produced in the just concluded fiscal year, causing hardship for low and fixed-income people who are already struggling to make ends meet amid persistently high inflation.

Traders in the supply chain denied any responsibility, with retailers blaming wholesalers, who blamed mill owners, who subsequently blamed farmers for raising prices of unprocessed paddy amidst floods in the eastern part of the country.

The natural calamity will undoubtedly affect ongoing Aman cultivation and prospects of Aush paddy in the winter.

However, farmers availed a higher yield of Boro in June this year, according to estimates of government agencies.

Over 4 crore tonnes of milled rice were gained in fiscal year 2023-24, up from 3.90 crore tonnes in the preceding year, according to estimates of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE).

The BBS estimates that last monsoon's yield of Aman, which accounts for roughly 40 percent of total annual rice production, was up 8 percent year-on-year to a record high.

The BBS has not published the production data of Boro, the principal crop, but the DAE said 2.24 crore tonnes of milled rice were bagged in the immediate past season.

Yet, prices of the staple food for which poor and low-income people spend a big portion of their income, are creeping up.

At the retail level in Dhaka yesterday, coarse rice was selling for Tk 53 per kilogramme (kg) whereas it was Tk 50 seven days ago, said Abdul Latif Biswas, a retailer at Karwan Bazar, one of the largest kitchen markets in Dhaka.

Meanwhile, the price of rice of medium grade increased from Tk 58 to Tk 62 while rice of the fine variety from Tk 72 to Tk 75, he told The Daily Star.

The prices rose by around 3 percent to 4 percent over the past 30 days, as per the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).

However, Golam Rabbani, a retired government employee purchasing groceries at Karwan Bazar, said the price rose by around 6 percent over the past month.

The government should act quickly as prices of essential goods are going out of the reach of the common people day by day, he added.

Inflation hit 11.66 percent in July, the highest since at least fiscal year 2010-11, driven mainly by food prices, reflecting the worsening situation of the purchasing capacity of people, according to the BBS.

Food inflation soared 14.1 percent in July, the highest in at least a decade, it showed.

Nizam Uddin, a wholesaler at the same market, acknowledge that prices had gone up by around Tk 4 per kg in the last seven days.

Many people are being provided coarse rice as flood relief, leading to an increase in demand and prices, he added.

Mohammad Jashim Uddin, a wholesaler at Mohammadpur Krishi Market in Dhaka, said coarse rice was not available.

"Millers say there is a crisis of paddy in the market. Due to this, the price of coarse and medium grade rice has increased," he said.

Chitta Majumder, adviser of Bangladesh Rice Mill Owners Association, said the price of paddy has increased in the market and this has affected the retail market.

Due to the volatile situation in the country, farmers are bringing less paddy to the market in hopes of getting higher prices later. Floods could also be a factor, he said.

Rezaul Karim, owner of Auto Rice Mill at Santahar in Bogura's Adamdighi upazila, said the price of each 50-kg sack of paddy has gone up by Tk 200 to Tk 250 in the last 15 days to 20 days.

The prices of all types of rice have increased in Kushtia, one of the country's largest rice hubs.

However, the prices of different varieties of rice is decreasing in Dinajpur, according to wholesale and retail rice traders there.

Meanwhile, no rice was imported last fiscal year, according to food ministry documents.

Mostafa Shabuj from Bogura, Kongkon Karmaker from Dinajpur and Anis Mondol from Kushtia contributed to this report.