Aman alone accounts for more than one-third of the country’s rice supply and determines market trends until boro harvest begins in April.
The new stocks of Swarna aman hit the market about one week back at the opening price of Tk 750 per maund (37.3 kilogram), Belal Paikar, a rice trader, told New Age. The price hovered at around Tk 800 per maund on Friday.
Last year, the opening price of Swarna aman was around Tk 600, recalled Belal of Abadpukur market, one of the biggest trading centres of unhusked rice of Naogaon district.
The high price of aman this year will make farmers happy, Kajem Ali, a farmer who had sold his aman stocks at Abadpukur, told New Age over telephone.
But, the high price of aman does not mean farmers are making a high profit, because ‘the increased costs of labour, saplings, and irrigation required this year to make up for the shortfall in rain had raised the production cost to a high level,’ Kajem argued.
As the preceding boro harvest was poor this year due to the damage to the crop caused by flash floods in haor areas, a fear of supply shortage has been pushing up the rice prices since the end of the harvest in June.
A Trading Corporation of Bangladesh report on Friday showed ordinary- and medium-grade parboiled rice of different varieties being retailed at Tk 32 to Tk 38 per kg, posting a 37 to 40 per cent rise year on year.
A high demand for aman from millers has caused its price to skyrocket this year, said Sanchoy Sarker, a trader of Ashuganj rice mokam in Brahmanbaria.
Courtesy: TNA
