News
Short-term Nadu imports to ease seasonal shortage
View(s):By Kasun Warakapitiya
The new government is grappling with one of its first major issues to ensure sufficient rice availability at the maximum retail price ahead of the festive season, amid allegations that large-scale millers are hoarding paddy.
In the short-term, 70,000 metric tonnes of Nadu rice will be imported before mid-next month.
The Paddy Marketing Board has not stocked enough paddy during the previous government’s tenure, despite having warehouses.
The Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe said the imports will be one-off.
Merchants charged that large millers impose a price of Rs 230 for a kilo of Nadu when the control price remains Rs 220, but merchants are unable to sell above the government imposed control price
“We will also ensure that it would not affect the farmers when the Maha season harvest is available in mid-January, ” Mr. Samarasinghe told a briefing this week.
Wholesale rice trader E.M Ramachandran. Pix by Akila Jayawardena
Mr. Samarasinghe said following a Cabinet decision to find an immediate solution he met with Agriculture Minister Lal Kantha along with officials of both ministries.
Swarna Nadu rice will be imported by the Co-operative Wholesale Establishment (CWE) and The State Trading (General) Corporation (STC), he said.
He expects Nadu to be available before December 15. The maximum retail price of Rs 220 per kilo will apply to imports. The imports will be sufficient until the Maha harvest in January, he said.
Lanka Sathosa Chairman, Dr. Samitha Perera said more than 50 registered importers are being evaluated and this will be completed by the upcoming week.
He assured that imports will stabilise the market and farmers would not be affected as only half of the monthly requirement of Nadu rice would be imported.
Meanwhile, The Co-operative Wholesale Establishment Chairman D. L Malage told the Sunday Times that the market shortage will be bridged through imports. STC is planning for direct imports.
“According to the president’s directive and government instructions they are conducting discussions and negotiations to import rice,’’ he said.
Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe
The State Trading (General) Corporation Chariman, Ravi Fernando initially said that he is unable to reveal information on imports because millers would then try to evade government measures.
Consumers and traders claimed that the CAA failed to draw out stocks held by large scale millers, end the shortage of rice, and the practice of millers trying to sell Nadu above the maximum retail price of Rs. 220.
The CAA has been asked to carry out raids. According to sources the government is also cautious about price controls because of inadequate stocks.
Wholesalers and retailers at the Pettah market said they can’t buy Nadu at the maximum retail price. Small-scale millers do not have Nadu and the large millers only sell Nadu on the condition that large volumes of other varieties of rice are bought.
Wholesale rice trader E.M Ramachandran, 63, praised the decision to import rice, but urged caution because if imports get delayed, the farmers would be unable to sell the next harvest and millers could then cheaply buy paddy and stock it.
Mr. Ramachandran said large millers exploit the natural shortage of rice and raise prices to compensate for expenditures such as interest on loans, reduction of weight of rice during production, and transport costs.
He said the government should strengthen the Paddy Marketing Board and stock rice.
Another merchant in the Pettah, Thenu Ganana Sampathan, said there is a shortage of Nadu, and Rathu and Sudu Kekulu.
He has stopped buying rice from large-scale millers as they impose conditions such as an early deposit, transport only by their lorries, and purchases of a big quantity of other varieties of rice.
Merchants charged that large millers impose a price of Rs 230 for a kilo of Nadu when the control price remains Rs 220, but merchants are unable to sell above the government imposed control price.
Another merchant said that even when they agree to big miller’s stipulations, the rice is not delivered. He had agreed to buy 100, 50 kilo Keeri Samba bags to get 300 bags of Nadu. A false bill would be given and extra charges would be added as transport costs or other purchases, he charged.
Consumer Affairs Authority Chairman, Hemantha Samarakoon said that the decision to import rice came after the rice mill and storage area survey report by the CAA was handed to the president. “The CAA was requested to provide a secret document, we did so, and we cannot elaborate on the contents.’’
He said that facing the rice mafia is a difficult task as there are no complaints with substantial details. Farmers won’t complain out of fear.
CAA did not notice abnormal amounts of stocks with big millers, and he suggested if stocks exist, they could be elsewhere.
He said that without a buffer stock, the government is unable to draw out stocks of millers and added that the agriculture ministry should plan cultivation of crops, while the PMB and government should maintain more buffer stocks.
Meanwhile, Mahinda Amaraweera, the former agriculture minister, said Nadu imports are unnecessary as there are adequate stocks. The government should set up a system to get the large mill owners to release rice hoarded in their silos.
Mr. Amaraweera said the president should not have claimed that ‘a single grain of rice’, will not be imported, but should threaten millers about importing rice to get the millers to release stocks.
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