The government has intensified the ongoing crackdown on hoarders and dishonest traders across the country, including the capital, to tame the soaring prices of rice.
High officials of the Ministry of Food on Monday held a meeting with the country’s leading corporate houses and discussed ways to keep stable the rice market.
At the meeting, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder warned against any competition of purchasing paddy and hoarding of rice by the corporate houses.
The Ministry of Food during anti-hoarding drives across the country on Monday fined more than 100 traders Tk 21 lakh for hoarding paddy and rice.
Sources said the millers are controlling the rice market. Mill owners and traders hoard and release rice in the market with an intention to increase the price of the staple food.
This time too, a syndicate has raised rice price in a planned manner. The millers increased the
rice price on the pretext of the rise in paddy price. Wholesale and retail traders also increased the price of all varieties of rice, thus making the market unstable.
Sources said an influential syndicate has is responsible for the unstable rice market as they have increased the rice price. The syndicate members are traders in the wholesale and retail markets. A powerful circle is working behind them, the sources added.
Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder during the meeting warned that the government will take stern action if anybody is found involved in hoarding rice.
He urged the corporate organisations to refrain from competition of buying paddy in the market.
The minister, while speaking at a meeting with the representatives of six corporate houses in his office at the Bangladesh Secretariate said, “I had a meeting with the millers. They (millers) said the corporate houses are in completion of buying paddy for hoarding. The millers point finger at you. The media also blames you. We want to know the real facts.”
Sadhan Chandra said, “Corporate houses sell products after adding VAT. That is why they are busy buying paddy from the market at high rates. Even buying a small amount of paddy has a huge impact on the market. Then other traders are forced to buy paddy at a higher prices. The minister mentioned that it is ominous for the market.”
He further said that rice is available in the market under different brand names, on which the maximum retail price is written.
“We want the mill-gate price of paddy to be written on the packets as well. Retailers cannot raise prices suddenly or unreasonably if mill-gate prices are written on sacks,” he said.
Food Secretary Ismail Hossain said regular monitoring is being carried out to find out whether anyone is in competition of buying paddy or rice or they are illegally hoarding rice.
“If someone tries to hoard rice beyond the capacity, we will review their storage capacity if necessary,” he added.
Representatives from City Group, Square, Pran-RFL, Meghna Group, ACI and Akij Essential attended the meeting. They agreed to write the mill-gate price on the sacks.
The Ministry of Food at a virtual meeting on Thursday ordered the DCs-SPs of 64 districts to conduct a visible drive to keep the price of rice at a tolerable level.
According to the instructions, the upazila and district administration will conduct operations in every upazila of the country. Deputy Commissioners (DCs) and Superintendents of Police (SPs) of all districts have been directed to carry out visible operations together to control the prices of paddy and rice.
Stockholders, mill owners, licensed and unlicensed traders who will be found hoarding rice and paddy will not be spared, according to the instructions.
Experts said the monitoring system at the wholesale and retail level is very weak. Taking the advantage of weak monitoring, a section of traders are increasing the rice price through syndicate to make a quick buck.