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Traders point to hoarding at production level

Refayet Ullah Mi rd ha
Traders at Badamtoli and Babubazar, two largest wholesale rice markets in the city, allege hoarding at the production level is contributing to its spiked prices across the country.
Talking to The Daily Star, whole salers in the capital yesterday said they have been getting only a trickle of supply from the district and upazila levels since rice store owners and millers there have been building up stock of the staple in anticipation of a further hike in price.
Noor Mohammad, a rice trader at Babubazar, said, "The store owners believe the price will go up even further due to production losses caused by Cyclone Sidr. So if they could have a huge stock, they will be able to do a brisk trade."
Another wholesaler said the
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price of paddy at the production level has been high because of poor yield, rising costs of agricultural inputs like fertiliser, labour, gasoline and transportation.
Besides, the problem of drying the harvest in rural areas for incessant rains and recurring floods has been another contributing factor.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), the target of Aman production this season was set at 1.30 crore tonnes.
Aman yields could not yet be assessed as the harvest is still on in some areas. However, the target is sure to be missed due to Sidr and the failure to ensure adequate supply of agricultural inputs to the farmers, said sources in the DAE.
The country had 1.38 crore tonnes of paddy produced against its revised target of 1.55 crore tonnes in the last Boro season, the DAE sources added.
Wholesalers and retailers said because of thin profit margins importers are not much interested in importing rice from India.
Statistics from Bangladesh Bank, however, show letters of credit (I.C) settled between December 1 and 20, 2007 for importing rice were worth $38.26 million against $48.13 million in November the same year while they totalled $5.25 million in December, 2006.
On the wholesale market yesterday, Swama variety was selling at Tk 1,250 per maund compared to Tk 1,000 a month back, Ratna at Tk 1,200 compared to Tk 850, coarse Aman at Tk 1,150 against its previous rate of Tk 850, Lata (28) at Tk 1.250-1.300 compared to Tk 950-1,000, Nazirshail at Tk 1.450-1,500 against Tk 1,250-1,300 and Miniket at Tk 1,550 per maund compared to Tk 1,350 in the previous month.