Prices of both paddy and rice have fallen at Naogaon, one of the country's largest rice trading hubs. Rice is down Tk 1–2 a kilo in one to two weeks, and Aus paddy has dropped by up to Tk 50 a maund in a week. Consumers get some relief; farmers get a deeper worry.

Traders say wholesale buying at the hub has slowed, stocks are piling up in warehouses, and with local demand thin they are cutting prices and 'pushing' rice to buyers in Dhaka and Chattogram. Farhad Hossain Chakdar, general secretary of the district rice mill owners' group, said rice imported in excess of need under last year's interim government has left the country well stocked, pushing paddy and rice prices to their lowest in three or four years and prompting millers to buy less paddy. He argued the government should procure paddy or rice in the Aus season as well so growers get a fair price.

Local traders quote Aus paddy (Parija and BRRI dhan-48) at Tk 700–800 a maund, down from Tk 800–850 a week earlier and Tk 1,000–1,050 at this time last year. Katari paddy from the last Boro season sells at Tk 1,600–1,700 a maund against Tk 1,800–1,900 a year ago, and Jira paddy at Tk 1,200–1,300 against Tk 1,600–1,700 — a fall of up to Tk 400 a maund, the steepest of the three.

Wholesale rice has followed. Jira rice is Tk 56–61 a kilo and Katari Tk 73–74, about Tk 2 lower than a week ago and Tk 3–5 lower than a month ago. Coarse Swarna rice has fallen from Tk 46–48 to Tk 42–44 a kilo in a week.

At a meeting with mill owners in the deputy commissioner's conference room on Thursday, DC Mohammad Saiful Islam warned against artificially scenting rice and against using the harmful whitening chemical 'hydrose'. District food controller Md Farhad Khondaker said ample stocks meant no risk of a rice price rise over the next three months, and that anyone hoarding to create a false shortage would face stern action.

He acknowledged that with paddy prices falling, the question of how farmers will recover their production costs is under consideration. Alongside government rice purchases in the Aus season, traders have been advised to explore producing biofuel from paddy.

Source: Prothom Alo