News
Moves to import 100,000MT of rice
Some 100,000 metric tonnes of rice are to be imported because private millers are hoarding paddy stocks without milling them into rice and releasing it to the market, the Cabinet has decided.
Trade Ministry Secretary Badrani Jayawardena said cabinet approval had been sought and obtained as a standby arrangement and would be implemented by calling for international bids when the need arose.
“We have made the arrangements after cautioning rice millers not to hoard stocks of paddy and create an artificial shortage of rice,” she said.
The Agriculture Ministry had made its own estimates and found that during the last harvest, sufficient paddy was collected and there were sufficient stocks to meet the demand for rice, but the Government had not been able to draw the stocks into the market, the secretary said.
“We have warned paddy millers not to create artificial shortages of rice,” she said.
The moves came as certain varieties of rice were in short supply in the market.
Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardena said the Government was also drawing up its own plans to maintain rice reserves in future, but for the time being, rice would be imported if the need arose.
He said the Government would continue to maintain the maximum retail price on selected varieties of rice and had no plans to relax it.
Meanwhile, the Government has also discussed with India the possibility of importing big onions in view of the shortage here.
“Though India has suspended exports of onions in view of the domestic demand, it has agreed to release some stocks for exports,” the minister said.
Last year, Sri Lanka imported 240,000 metric tonnes of onion from India.