The price of all types of rice has increased in the capital following a disruption to the supply chain due to the blockade enforced by BNP and its allies, multiplying the woes of consumers who are already struggling due to the inflationary pressure.

Traders said frequent hartal and blockade are affecting the supply chain and increased the transportation cost of commodities.

This has led to the hike in the price of rice as well as other products at both wholesale and retail markets, they said.

The people who live on a tight budget are in dire straits as they have to dig deeper into their pockets for most of the commodities.

Although the country has enough rice stock, its price has been increasing in the country for the last couple of weeks due to the hartal and three phases of blockade enforced by BNP, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and like-minded parties to press for their one-point demand for resignation of the present government.

Dr Jahangir Alam Khan, an agro economist and researcher, told the Daily Sun that there is no reason for the hike in the rice price as the country has surplus production.

“The country has surplus rice. Millers and traders are the suppliers of rice in the country. They’re increasing the rice price after making a syndicate,” he said.

“The millers always look for a pretext to increase the price to make extra profit. The price of rice may decline soon after the harvesting of Aman paddy,” Jahangir said.

The price of fine quality rice increased to Tk70-72 per kg from Tk65-68 in the last two weeks at the retail market while coarse ones like BR-28 and BR-29 were retailing at Tk60 per kg from Tk55.

Mohammad Nizam Uddin, general secretary of Babu Bazar Rice Traders’ Association, said the rice price sees a rise at the end of every season.

This year, hartal and blockade have also contributed to the rise in its price as the transportation cost has gone up.

“The cost of transporting essential products increased due to the blockade, which pushed up the rice price by Tk100-200 per 50kg sack,” Nizam said, adding that there is no crisis of rice.

He, however, said the price will be decline soon after new rice appears in the market in December.

While visiting different markets in the capital on Thursday, this correspondent found that the price of most rice varieties went up by Tk2-3 per kg in the last two weeks.

The price of fine quality rice increased on November 6 and that of coarse one on November 8, according to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).

The price of fine-quality Miniket and Najirshail increased by Tk2.27% and that of coarse rice by 2.4% in a month, it said.

Shahzahan Talukder, owner of Mukta Rice Agency at Karwanbazar, said the price of all types of rice increased by Tk100-200 per sack to the countrywide blockade.

He said they had to hike the price at the wholesale market as millers raised it and the transportation cost has gone up.

The country produced 3.91 crore tonnes of rice in FY 2023 and the last Boro season, it produced 2.07 crore tonnes of rice, up 3% from the previous season.

Published Date: November 10, 2023