Rice prices stable after steady rise

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The price of rice and edible oil remained stable yesterday while people of low income waited in long queues at the BDR-run fair price outlets in the capital to buy rice.

Many of them failed to purchase rice as the BDR authorities grappled with the inflow of customers at all the 40 BDR-run outlets.

Authorities concerned claimed that they are selling 250 tonnes of rice at Tk 25 per kilogram a day at the outlets. Now they are thinking of increasing the number of counters to three from two as more people are thronging the outlets every day.

The BDR-run outlets in the capital remain open from 9:00am to 5:00pm with one-hour lunch break.

The price of rice and oil remained stable in both retail and wholesale markets after they witnessed a sharp rise in last few days.

In the retail markets, coarse and swarna rice was sold at Tk 32-33 and Tk 34 per kg respectively while the price of Paijam and Lata rice was Tk 34-35 per kg yesterday after the price of all types of rice rose by Tk 7-8 per kg in a week.

On the other hand, soya bean oil was sold at Tk 94-100 while the price of palm oil was Tk 82-85 a litre.

However, there were allegations against the retailers of selling palm oil as soya bean.

In the BDR-run outlets soya bean oil was sold at Tk 84 per litre and five-litre container at Tk 435 which was being sold at Tk 490-500 in retail markets.

The government-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) yesterday sold each five-litre soya bean container at Tk 374 which was Tk 100 less than the market price.

A large number of people were seen in long queues in front of the outlet at the TCB building at Karwan Bazar.

A TCB official said, “Although we are selling soya bean at a low price compared to the current market rate, we are making a profit of Tk 12 against each five-litre soya bean container.”

“We stockpiled soya bean oil before the price hike and we shall be able to continue selling it from our stock for another month,” he added.

A huge number of people mostly women were seen standing in queues in front of the outlets for hours to buy rice.

“I have been waiting in the queue for an hour to buy rice, onion and edible oil,” said Sariful Haque, a sophomore of the Department of Accounting at Tejgaon College at the outlet on Indira road playground.

He said the authorities concerned should increase the number of counters for selling rice so that people can buy rice at the outlets without any hassle.

A former scientific officer of Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, preferring anonymity, said, “I’ve come to the BDR outlet because I’m no more able to purchase rice and oil at high rates from outside market after my retirement.”

He urged the government to set up such markets in every part of the country to ease the plight of the poor and low-income groups who have been hard hit by the price hike.

A rickshaw-puller told this correspondent that he came to the BDR-run market at Jakir Hossain road of Mohammadpur at about 10:00am and collected his rice after five hours, at 3:00pm. “I could earn at least Tk 100 had I paddled rickshaw during the five hours,” he said.

People were seen thronging the BDR markets as early as 5:00am.

“Though many people come to the market everyday, we’ve no plan to increase the number of (BDR-run) markets soon”, Colonel Mojibul Haque, commander of Operation Dal-Bhat 2007, said.

“We’re not selling more than three kilograms of rice to each customer in a bid to check selling of rice outside the (BDR-run) market,” he added.

Meanwhile, our Benapole correspondent reports that National Board of Revenue yesterday directed the authorities concerned to keep customs offices and ports open on Fridays and Saturdays to speed up unloading shipments of Indian rice following the unprecedented price hike of the staple grain this week.

With the import of 4,000 tonnes of rice through Benapole port yesterday, a total of 44,433 metric tons of rice have been imported under Benapole Customs House in last 11 days.

Truckloads of rice are now waiting at Petrapol port of India to enter Bangladesh.

Rice price, meanwhile, came down by Tk 1 to 2 per kg at Benapole yesterday after intelligence agencies began enquiries about importing and stocking of rice by different importers, said local rice importer Mosharraf Traders.

Our Rangpur, Nilphamari, Dinajpur, Sirajganj, Manikganj, Netrakona, Khulna, Sylhet and Bandarban correspondents reported hardships of the poor who cannot cope with rising prices of essentials, especially rice.

Price hike has forced some people to change food habit, our Sirajganj correspondent said, adding that some people took to vegetables instead of rice.

Jobeda Khatun, 55, of Dhanbandhi village told The Daily Star yesterday that she ate radish curry with little rice in the noon because she could not buy rice following the price hike.

Our Netrakona correspondent reports: Soya bean oil sold at Tk 105 yesterday though it ranged between Tk 90 and 95 a few days ago. Prices of palm oil rose to Tk 85 from Tk 75 and better-quality palm oil jumped to Tk 87 from Tk 79.

Our Manikganj correspondent reports that low-income people are passing their days half-fed or without any meal while people in the middle-income brackets are also suffering a lot due to the price hike of rice.

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