Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder has said the country has adequate rice stocks and warned that tough action will be taken against those who will try to hike prices of the staple food ‘unnecessarily’.
“We’ve no shortage of rice [in the country]. We’ve adequate stocks,” he said at a conference on rice price at the conference room of the food ministry on Wednesday (Nov 20).
The minister said, “There is no need for rice imports. We’re even ready to export rice. That’s why there are no reasons for rice price spirals. We won’t tolerate any hike in rice prices.”
He asked wholesalers not to make profit more than Tk 0.5 a kg and urged them to monitor the market to ensure that retailers do not sell rice at excessive rates.
“You have to control the retail market. It’s your responsibility to control the market. Please don’t raise rice prices; rather bring them to the previous level,” he said.
Sadhan Chandra said there are 1.11 million tons of rice in government warehouses while the administration has opened control room to monitor rice prices.
He said rice prices at the retail level should be at best Tk 40-42 as the government has fixed the procurement price at Tk 1,040 per mound.
The minister expressed hope that the ongoing transport strike will have no impact on the rice market if the shutdown continues even for 10 more days.