Rice Mill owners divided on selling rice at a controlled price

By K.G.Karunaratne and Pushpakumara Mallawarachchi

Rice mill owners appear to be divided on selling rice at a controlled price with some agreeing to supply at a controlled price while others have refused saying it will result in them suffering losses.

A leading rice mill owner Dudley Sirisena said on Saturday (28 that it was not possible to purchase Nadu paddy for Rs.122 a kilo and to sell rice at Rs220 a kilo. ,Rice producers in the Polonnaruwa District and the All Ceylon Rice Mill Owners Association decided to supply rice for the control price to support the ongoing programme of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

He pointed out that the prevailing shortage of Nadu rice in the market was due to the poor output of Nadu paddy. He said farmers had reduced the cultivation of Nadu paddy and that more than 80 percent of paddy cultivators resorted to cultivating Kiri Samba. “This has been done to increase their revenue,” he said He stressed the need to avoid this imbalance in paddy cultivations.

Meanwhile, The All Ceylon Medium and Small-Scale rice traders association of Marandagahamula told the media yesterday that they were not agreeable to the large scale rice producer Dudley Sirisena's statement and that it was not possible to sell rice at the controlled price.

President of the Marandagahamula rice traders association B.K.Ranjith said the small and medium scale rice mill owners and rice traders would face a serious predicament if they were to follow the statement made by Dudley Sirisena.

He pointed out that the current price of paddy was between Rs.130 and Rs, 132 and that it was not possible to sell rice at the controlled price incurring heavy losses

He said farmers had obtained loans from private money lenders for heavy interest and that they would be left without means to settle the loans.

President of the All Ceylon Medium and Small Scale Rice Traders Association requested the government to work out an effective mechanism to bring down the cost of rice permanently.