Rice hoarders will land in jail: Food minister

Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumdar today accused some corporate houses, millers, wholesalers and retailers of causing a price spiral of rice through hoarding and issued a stern note of warning asking them to get prepared to land in jail unless they correct themselves.

"They must languish in jail unless they correct themselves. Slapping mere fines will not be enough for them . . . corporate houses, millers, wholesalers and retailers can't evade their responsibility for the price hike of rice," he told the media.

Majumdar added the anti-hoarding campaign has already launched to net those involved in rice hoarding as the government is determined to enforce the newly enacted law on illegal food storage, prescribing life term for hoarding as the maximum punishment.

The minister said the government is preparing to intensify the nationwide anti-hoarding campaign engaging law enforcement agencies while his ministry already cancelled leaves, including weekly holidays of the Food Department officials and staff, to enforce the campaign.

"The businessmen must discard their greedy attitude to make extra profits," he said.

The minister's comments came days after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina asked authorities concerned to send to jail the hoarders and market manipulators saying the sudden price-hike of rice and other essentials after the election was a "very abnormal matter".  

Director General (DG) of National Consumers Right Protection AHM Shafiquzzaman said as part of the campaign his office would ensure display of wholesale and retail price charts both at wholesale and retailers level.

"Every retail outlet must collect and keep cash memos of their purchasing. Joint drives will be conducted against the enlisted rice millers by the food department, local administration and national consumers' right protection directorate," he said.  

"The country is currently witnessing the peak of aman harvesting when the price spiral is unusual," said agro-economist Dr Jahangir Alam, currently a director of Dhaka School of Economics.

He said the extreme cold, and rain partly disrupted the rice supply system while the aman production could be less than the expected output this year due to heavy downpour in northeastern and a series of weak cyclones in the southern coasts. 

But, Alam said, the "abnormal" price hike could not be justified by these factors and opined that the unscrupulous businessmen including millers and some corporate houses took the opportunity to make extra profits through price fixing and market manipulation.

Agricultural Extension Department (DAE) officials largely echoed Jahangir Alam saying there was no reason for rice prices to have soared during this full harvest of transplant aman, the second largest crop after Boro, contributing 38 percent of the total annual rice output.  

Rice price started soaring ahead of elections and it continued after the voting as well while officials suspected it to be the outcome of a design by market manipulators.

Retailers said the buying miniket rice price at their level was Taka 2850 per sack of 50-kilogram in the first week of January, the rate rose to Taka 3030 on January 10 and it became Taka 3260 on January 16 and now it stands at Taka 3400.

The consumers now need to pay Taka 3600 to 3700 for the same quantity of the miniket rice, the most popular affordable variety to the ordinary middle class people.

The price of coarse rice varieties also increased as well by Taka 250 to 350 per sack during the past month.

Retailer Fazlul Huq of Sabuj Traders  at  Mirpur section-6 Central Kitchen Market said he sold per kilogram coarse rice at Taka 40 two weeks ago and was now selling the same rice at Taka 44-45.

According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) index, in January 2024, the minimum price of medium quality rice reached to Taka 62, per kg which was Taka 58 held in the corresponding period of last year.

"When the rice price is supposed to be minimal during the current time, the price went up for the fourth time in less than a month,"  said M Bacchu Mia of Chandpur Rice Agency at Dhaka's Kawran Bazar kitchen market.

He attributed the hikes to the business monopoly of particular rice supplier companies.

"The government campaign must target the big wholesalers – millers and corporate houses if the rice price has to be contained," said Morshed Ahmed, another retailer who owns the New RK Rice Agency at Mohammadpur Krishi Market.

DAE Director General Badal Chandra Biswas called the rice market situation "an anarchy" and "We need cooperation from all quarters to stop it."

"This is unethical and not at all acceptable."

An ordinary employee of a private ICT firm, Sohrab Hossain, expressed his frustration over the quick price spiral of rice "life is becoming tougher" and "It became hard for me to run a five-member family with Taka 25,000 monthly salary."

Bangladesh Auto Husking Mill Owners Association president M Abdur Rashid acknowledged that rice prices mounted fast in recent weeks claiming that the hike was caused by lack of paddy supplies and less import.

"The price has gone down again. The situation has already become normal," he claimed further.  

Rashid refused allegations of unholy syndication on their part saying, "We are doing business amid hard competition, so there is no more existence of syndicate particularly in the rice market."