Rice prices rise, reserves fall
Update: 13:10,
Dec 26, 2017
The price of rice has remained high
for some time now, with little hope of any relief. The government’s initiatives
have done nothing to salvage the situation and the present reserves indicate
that the prices will not go down anytime soon.
The price of rice has had an impact
on the economy. According to the research institute South Asian Network on
Economic Modelling (SANEM), the 30 per cent increase in the price of rice over
the past few months has pushed 500 thousand people below the poverty line. The
finance minister has rejected the report, though admitted that the increased
rice price has been a problem for some.There may be debate over how many people
have been pushed into poverty because of the rice prices, but when the price of
coarse-grained rice is Tk 44 to Tk 46 per kg, it is certainly difficult for
many to bear.
It is even more alarming that the
price of rice in the international market is on the rise. That means import
costs will go up. And the government food reserves are at a precarious level.
The government has no tool to control the impact of rising rice prices on the
market. Unscrupulous traders can take full advantage of the situation, pushing
prices up even further. The government’s food grain storage capacity is 1.7
million tonnes, but it presently has only 375 thousand tonnes of rice and 250
thousand tonnes of wheat in reserve.
According to experts, the government
loses significant control on the market if its food grain reserves fall below 1
million tonnes. And it fully loses control if the reserves fall below 600
thousand tonnes. That means the situation is alarming.
The government, on principle, has
taken several measures to control the price of rice. It has cut down import
duty to facilitate import of rice by the private sector. But the food ministry
has completely failed to boost its food reserves. There is obvious need for
supervision from the highest level. Round-the-clock monitoring of reserves,
supply and imports is essential.
Rice is the staple food of the
country and attention must be paid to the social and economic impact of the
rising rice prices. If this trend continues, people above the poverty line will
fall below and the ones already below, will become ultra-poor. This will
consolidate poverty further and the country will be gripped by malnutrition.
Efforts must now be directed towards increasing government food reserves. We
hope the government focuses on this task.
Unisame for granting industry status to rice sector
December 26, 2017
Lahore - The Union of Small and Medium
Enterprises (UNISAME) has urged Pervaiz Malik, the federal commerce minister,
to grant the status of industry to the
rice sector, on the basis of its merits.
UNISAME President
Zulfikar Thaver said the rice growers, millers, processors and exporters all
contributed towards the economic growth of the country collectively and hence
the sector deserved the status of industry for
its recognition and promotion on fast track basis.
Thaver said all rice sector stakeholders, who
had formed a rice syndicate and were on the same page, demanded and urged the
ministry to oblige the sector with industrystatus due to
its contribution to the GDP and economic growth which was substantial.
He emphasised the need for ending the
step-motherly treatment, which was causing hardships to the sector which was
second to the textile sector in every respect and met all the parameters set
for gaining the industry status . “It is
indeed surprising and this omission is perturbing to the stakeholders. It is by
all means a full-fledged industry ,
as it employs huge number of people from the farms to the markets: both
domestic and overseas, and is day by day getting modernized and on recognition
as an industry it
will be promoted and developed more,” Thaver argued.
The domestic turnover tax on rice of 0.2
percent imposed on turnover of Rs two million is unwise as during new crop
arrival season it gets exhausted in couple of days and two million limit for
the fiscal year is unrealistic. Secondly rice needs 0 rating like the five
other sectors exempted from taxes. Thirdly it is important to make the export
of rice competitive to meet global challenges he pinpointed.
Unisame for granting industry status to rice sector
December 26, 2017
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Our Staff Reporter
Lahore - The Union of Small and Medium
Enterprises (UNISAME) has urged Pervaiz Malik, the federal commerce minister,
to grant the status of industry to the
rice sector, on the basis of its merits.
UNISAME President
Zulfikar Thaver said the rice growers, millers, processors and exporters all
contributed towards the economic growth of the country collectively and hence
the sector deserved the status of industry for
its recognition and promotion on fast track basis.
Thaver said all rice sector stakeholders, who
had formed a rice syndicate and were on the same page, demanded and urged the
ministry to oblige the sector with industrystatus due to
its contribution to the GDP and economic growth which was substantial.
He emphasised the need for ending the
step-motherly treatment, which was causing hardships to the sector which was
second to the textile sector in every respect and met all the parameters set
for gaining the industry status . “It is
indeed surprising and this omission is perturbing to the stakeholders. It is by
all means a full-fledged industry ,
as it employs huge number of people from the farms to the markets: both
domestic and overseas, and is day by day getting modernized and on recognition
as an industry it
will be promoted and developed more,” Thaver argued.
The domestic turnover tax on rice of 0.2
percent imposed on turnover of Rs two million is unwise as during new crop
arrival season it gets exhausted in couple of days and two million limit for
the fiscal year is unrealistic. Secondly rice needs 0 rating like the five
other sectors exempted from taxes. Thirdly it is important to make the export
of rice competitive to meet global challenges he pinpointed.
More by
Monday, 25 December 2017 | 06:49 WIB
Office of Ministry of Agriculture.
🔊 Listen
to this
JAKARTA, NNC -
Ahead of Christmas and New Year, Ministry of Agriculture makes sure that food
production is safe because some areas, including Central Java, harvest
regularly throughout December 2017.
Director General of
Horticulture at Agriculture Ministry Spudnik Sujono said that the directorate
has deployed all directors in the Directorate General of Horticulture at
Ministry of Agriculture to review rice cultivation condition throughout Central
Java since Monday (12/18/2017) to check the concrete situation in the field and
dismiss the issue of rice import as the supply of medium rice decreased.
In fact, the
person-in-charge of the Special Efforts of Rice, Corn and Soybean (Upsus
Pajale) of Central Java stated that Mangli Village, Randudongkal Sub-district,
Pemalang, Central Java has just harvested 120 hectares of land.
"Look at the field,
we do not need imports. I will report this to the Minister and the President,
Central Java rice is safe, no imports necessary," Spudnik noted, Sunday
(12/24).
Concerning the rice price
hike, according to him, it is just the market situation because the traders
raising the price reasoning they have bought at the average price of dried
milled grain (GKG) of IDR5,500 hence the tendency to be premium rice, not medium
one.
Spudnik also expressed
his appreciation to the farmers and agricultural field extension officers
(PPL), the ranks of Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) and the National Police
(Polri) who continue to oversee food sovereignty in the country because the production
of grains in Pemalang during December reached 500 thousand GKG from 5,000
hectares of land.
The production, he said,
shows Pemalang rice is surplus by 190 thousand tons because its consumption is
only 125,000 tons.
People suffered when rice price crossed Tk 50
Says Muhith
Finance
Minister AMA Muhith. File photo
People
faced some difficulties when the price of rice crossed Tk 50 a kg and might
have run out of their savings to cope with the high price, Finance Minister AMA
Muhith said yesterday.
He said there was no doubt that people had
suffered because of the high price of rice.
"We also wanted the price to increase
to some extent. It is good from that point. But when it went beyond Tk 50
a kg, some people faced problems and might have run out of their savings,” he
told reporters at the secretariat.
Muhith's comments came in response to a
think-tank's new research finding that says 520,000 people have fallen into
poverty due to sharp increase in the price of the staple this year.
Using a computable general equilibrium
model, Dhaka-based South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (SANEM) on
Saturday said it found a 35 percent increase in the price of rice and the
results show that there is likely to be a rise in headcount poverty rate by
0.32 percentage points due to the rice price hike this year.
This means that 520,000 people have fallen
into poverty because of increasing the rice price, according to SANEM.
This report should not be trusted. One
should wait at least for a year to find out whether the poverty rate has gone
up or down, Muhith said, adding that his position is that he will not accept
the report until a year passes.
Rice prices hit a record high mid-August,
triggered by a rumour of India banning export, by a drop production owing to
crop damage caused by recurrent floods, depleting public stocks and inadequate
supply from millers and traders.
On September 16, retail prices of coarse
grains, consumed mainly by the poor and low income groups, shot up to Tk 50-54
a kg in Dhaka city, according to the state-run Trading Corporation of
Bangladesh (TCB).
The prices, however, have come down below
Tk 50 a kg thanks to huge imports and availability of subsidised rice through
open market sales.
Yesterday, coarse rice was sold at Tk
44-46 a kg, which was Tk 40-45 a month ago and Tk 35-38 a year ago, according
to the TCB's market monitoring report.
Prices of fine rice varieties rose 26
percent year-on-year yesterday and coarse price 23.29 percent, showed TCB
data.
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/people-suffered-when-rice-price-crossed-tk-50-1509889
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