Food adviser Ali Imam Majumdar has said that rice prices might decline gradually with the new Aman rice coming to the market.
鈥楾he harvesting of Aman paddy has already started in the country鈥檚 northern region. There has been a bumper yielding of Aman this year. Our Aman collection campaign will start from next Sunday,鈥� said the adviser on Thursday.
He was briefing reporters after a meeting at the Directorate General of Food in the city. Top officials of the food directorate including its regional directors were present in the meeting.
The government will start the Aman collection drive from Sunday with a target to collect 10 lakh tonnes of Aman rice and paddy, increasing the prices by Tk 3 a kilogram this year.
The food adviser said that more rice were in the import pipeline as LCs had already been opened to import 1.5 lakh tonnes of rice.
He said that the rice prices had remained stable for a week as the prices did not go high anymore.
The prices of rice and paddy were increased, considering the matter of ensuring fair prices for farmers as the production costs went high, said the adviser.
Food director general Abdul Khaleque said that the target was set to collect a total of 10 lakh tonnes of Aman rice and paddy 鈥�-5.5 lakh tonnes rice, 3.5 lakh tonnes paddy and one lakh tones Atap rice鈥攄uring this Aman season.
The price of rice per kilogram was increased to Tk 47 from Tk 44, while that of paddy to Tk 33 from Tk 30 and Atap rice to Tk 46 from Tk 42, he said.
Replying to a question, the food adviser said that though Bangladesh was nearer to self-sufficient in rice production and the country did not need to import rice sometimes and heavy tariffs were imposed on rice imports at that time.
This year there are zero tariffs and the agricultural ministry now predicted that there would be a deficit of 6-7 lakh tonnes of rice this year, he said.
Food secretary Masudul Hasan said that 134 businessmen had so far been permitted to import 10.52 lakh tonnes rice.
