Kushtia bans noncompliant rice millers for two years

Kushtia's local food administration has decided not to buy rice from the noncompliant rice millers for next two years after they failed to deliver the staple food to the government in violation of contracts.

Over 200 disobedient rice millers have been served notices while the local food office has blacklisted 416 more mills with whom the government would not sign any deal to buy rice for the next two years.

Kushtia District Food Controller Tanver Rahman confirmed to The Daily Star about the decision. He added that other defiant millers would also be served notices. 

Kushtia is home to one of the country's biggest wholesale rice markets in Bangladesh where coarse rice is being sold at Tk 42-44 per kilogramme.

During the ongoing rice procurement season, from May 2 to June 30, the government wanted to buy rice from the millers at Tk 34 a kg. The millers were reluctant to supply the commodity to the government at less than the market price, according to a number of millers. 

As a result, most rice millers did not sign the contract with the government in the first place in the hope of higher profits.

The millers who signed the contracts also refused to sell the staple as promised as they got better prices in the open market trade.

Coarse rice price went by 46.88 percent year-on-year yesterday, according to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.

Kushtia is one of the largest rice producing hubs in Bangladesh where about 868 mills process and produce rice.

Of the total, 609 mill owners are enlisted with the local food office to supply rice to the government.

This year only 193 mill owners in the district signed deals to supply 4,898 tonnes of rice. The government's procurement target was 13,301 tonnes.

But only two mill owners supplied 135 tonnes of rice to the district food godown till last week.

The situation this year is in stark contrast to that of the past whe n mill owners would eagerly wait for the procurement drive to start so they could supply the staple food.

On June 1, the local food office received a letter from the regional food controller with instructions to serve mill owners notices banning them from selling rice to the government for the next two years.

With a very low stock of rice and prices rising, the government is walking a tightrope when it comes to procuring rice from the domestic market and is now in the process of importing the item from Vietnam and other countries.