|
Mismatch between official, open mkt prices lands govt's rice procurement drive into trouble
S M Jahangir
12/30/2005
The government's current 'aman' procurement drive is running into big trouble due to a mismatch between the official purchase rates and the open market prices of the foodgrain.
As a result, the authority is set to miss the internal foodgrain procurement target despite a robust aman output this season, keeping the local rice market volatile.
With the launch of its aman procurement drive on November 25, the government has so far collected only 23,000 tonnes of foodgrain against the target of 200,000 tonnes, official figures showed.
Officials, however, admitted a limited scope for gearing up the domestic foodgrain procurement drive for Aman foodgrain under the present official prices.
The procurement prices of rice and paddy have been fixed at Tk 14 and Tk 9.40 per kg respectively for the current aman season but their prices are considerably higher in the open market.
Due to such price mismatch, private millers prefer selling their rice in the open market to supplying the same to the government.
Admitting such problems, an official of the Food and Disaster Management Ministry said: "It is not possible for us to meet the procurement target under the existing price structure."
The official further said the poor procurement performance would lead the government to go for rice import for running its food operation.
"Since the government has to wait at least four months more to launch the 'boro' procurement drive, it has no alternative but to go for immediate import in order to beef up the official food reserve," said the official.
The government's total food stock has plummeted to about 600,000 tonnes against the comfortable level of 1.0 million tonnes, sources observed.
They also hinted that the government would lose its control over local rice market unless its stock was enhanced immediately.
Despite an adequate supply of the seasonal crop, the prices of rice continued to rise in the market, they noted.
A strong syndicate of rice millers and hoarders are active in creating further price escalation, taking advantages of the government's inadequate food stock, they observed.
A section of officials, however, termed the existing foodgrain stock 'comfortable' for running the official food operation until the next boro season.
Besides, the government would consider rice import to cope with any contingency in the country, they added.
|