AgribusinessRice in Dhaka's retail markets has risen by Tk 2 to 5 a kilo in two weeks and some pulses by Tk 20 to 30, with flour dearer too; traders blame higher transport costs after the fuel price rise.
AgribusinessIndian 5 percent broken parboiled rice reached $387-392 a tonne, Vietnam's hit a two-month high of $440-450 and Thailand's $480, with India's crop possibly set to shrink for the first time in about a decade.
CropsThe Bharat International Rice Conference runs from 23 to 25 October with 2,038 pre-arranged business meetings and a session on whether 2027 brings a price crash or a new bull run.
AgribusinessRice, lentils and soybean oil sold at last week's prices in Dhaka's Shewrapara and Kazipara markets during the Durga Puja holiday, while farm eggs fell by Tk 10 a dozen to Tk 140.
AgribusinessThis year's open market sale (OMS) targets are 240,000 tonnes of rice and 350,000 tonnes of flour and the subsidy falls from Tk 4,096 crore to Tk 3,411 crore; the Bangladesh Food Security Network says the urban poor will pay more for food.
AgribusinessHigher transport costs after the recent fuel price rise, and high paddy prices at the wholesale hubs, have pushed up retail prices of fine and medium rice in Dhaka by up to Tk 3 a kilo in a week and a half; coarse rice is steadier.
CropsThe cheap rice of Mughal governor Shaista Khan's Bengal is famous; in a BBC Bangla analysis historians say prices were indeed low, but an export ban, weak purchasing power and farmers' hardship lay behind them.
CropsPaddy and rice prices have slipped in Moulvibazar and Sreemangal markets; shoppers welcome cheaper rice, but farmers say rising costs of seed, fertiliser, irrigation and labour leave them unable to cover production costs.
After fuel prices rose Tk 20 a litre, truck fares into Chattogram climbed by Tk 6,000-10,000; onion in the Chaktai-Khatunganj wholesale market went from Tk 32-33 to Tk 38-40 a kilo and rice rose Tk 20 a sack.
CropsLower paddy area and a 26% rainfall deficit in southern India have lifted prices of Sona Masoori, Ponni and Swarna rice by 10-25%, even as government rice stocks stand far above buffer norms.
A Saturday round of Kaptan, Nawabganj, Islambagh and Lalbagh bazars found rice, lentils, broiler, eggs, farmed fish and vegetables at the same high prices; broiler and eggs unchanged for six weeks, chinigura and atap rice up from Tk 90-100 to Tk 170-200 in three months.
Bangladesh grows 18-20 lakh tonnes of aromatic rice a year by DAE's count; millers and restaurateurs blame hoarding and a one-off export approval of 61,000 tonnes; on 8 September the commerce ministry halved the permitted export quantity after 129 firms shipped 2,419 tonnes between 13 May and 30 Aug
Although government grain stocks are at a record high and Boro procurement beat its target, the government has decided to buy about two lakh tonnes more rice from mills, allegedly under pressure from millers and politicians.
