Addressing corporate firms, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder has said they must refrain from competing to buy paddy on the market, and that there will be no leniency for illegal stocks beyond their capacity.
He said this at a meeting with representatives of six corporate firms at his office in the Bangladesh Secretariat on Monday (22 January) afternoon.
The food minister said: "I sat with the millers. They said the corporate firms were competing to buy paddy and stockpiling it. If the corporate firms did not trade in coarse rice, there would have been no need to sit with us. The millers point the finger at you. The media also blames you. We want to know the real picture."
'Harmful for the market'
He said corporate firms add value and sell products on the market, so they get busy buying paddy at higher prices. Even when they buy only small amounts, the impact is very large, and others are then forced to buy paddy at higher prices too. The minister called this harmful for the market.
He added that rice was being sold under various brand names with the MRP printed on the sack. "We want the mill-gate price written alongside it. If the mill-gate price is written on the sack, retailers will not be able to raise prices suddenly or unreasonably."
Food Secretary Ismail Hossain said regular monitoring was under way to see whether anyone was buying paddy and rice competitively or hoarding illegally. "If anyone tries to stock beyond capacity, we will review storage capacity if necessary."
Firms agree to print mill-gate price
Representatives of City Group, Square, Pran-RFL, Meghna Group, ACI and Akij Essential attended the meeting. They agreed to print the mill-gate price on sacks, set out their capacity and buying and selling figures, and promised full cooperation.
Director General of the Directorate General of Food Md Sakhawat Hossain, Bangladesh Food Safety Authority chairman Abdul Kaium, FPMU Director General Md Shahidul Alam and senior officials of the food ministry and the Directorate General of Food were present.
Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
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