& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Rice price soars 14pc in one year: TCB

Paddy selling at Tk 400 per maund

MONJUR MAHMUD
Rice prices hit as high as 14 percent in last one year in the retail market.
Prices of coarse rice ranged between Tk 14 and Tk 15 per kg a year back, which is now selling between Tk 16 and Tk 17 per kg, clocking a 13.79 percent rise, according to market review of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh(TCB).
On the other hand, prices of medium quality rice had been between Tk 16 and Tk 18 per kg one year ago while its prices are now between Tk 18 and Tk 20, marking an 11.76 percent increase.
Fine quality rice prices ranged between Tk 19 and Tk 21 one year before, but it is now selling between Tk 21 and Tk 24 per kg, up by 12.5 percent.
However, minimum price of coarse rice was Tk 17 per kg and fine rice (miniket) Tk 25 per kg in different city markets yesterday, according to traders at Mirpur, Karwan Bazar.
"Immediately after the harvest, the price of coarse rice was Tk 14 and fine quality Tk 18 per kg last year," said Anwar Ali, a rice seller at the city's Mirpur-6 kitchen market, yesterday.
Considering the present trend, the commerce ministry recently recommended for increasing the stock of rice, edible oil, garlic, and powdered milk to keep prices within the reach of commoners.
Flour price went up by 12.12 percent in just one year, garlic 42.18 percent and sugar 11.29 percent, according to the TCB review. Milk
Vita (packet) has now become 14.12 percent and Diploma (packet) 12.55 percent dearer than a year before.
Meanwhile, paddy price is still high at Tk 350 a maund for coarse quality and Tk 400 for finer quality.
"Usually, prices come down after harvest to around Tk 200 to Tk 220 a maund. This year, it is not the case so much," according to the latest
edition of Agro, a regular publication of Syngenta Bangladesh Limited.
"The affluent farmers are clinging on to their stocks apprehending further price hike. Millers are also actively buying from medium and small farmers. So the demand is quite high," said Agro, prepared based on field reports.
Farmers got around 50 to 60 maunds of paddy from each acre,
which is encouraging, it mentioned.
However, farmers had to bear a lot of costs for harvesting this year. They had to spend between Tk 800 and Tk 1,000 for cultivating each bigha of land due to labour crisis, it said adding that they spent between Tk 550 and Tk 600 a year before. So the high price will make up for their high cost.