Tougher laws for rice trade

To prevent selling same variety under different names:

COLOMBO: The Government has decided to bring in new measures to prevent traders from abusing stipulated rice prices by selling the same variety of rice under different brand names.

Effective new laws are on the cards in the near future to prevent such abuse and selling rice at exorbitant prices under different brands.

This decision was arrived at when the committee appointed to look into the Cost of Living met under the leadership of Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka at Temple Trees on Tuesday.

Minister for Agriculture Development and Agrarian Services Maithripala

Sirisena pointed out that some companies were resorting to the practice of buying rice from farmers at one price and having several retail prices using different brand names for the same variety.

Trade, Marketing Development, Cooperatives and Consumer Affairs Minister Bandula Gunewardene too confirming the existence of this anomaly said that traders who buy paddy at Rs. 33.00 were selling the extracted rice at thrice that price in the retail market.

The Minister also pointed out that according to private company calculations the average production price of a kilo of paddy was around Rs. 16.94 due to the 96 per cent Government subsidy on fertiliser which helped to reduce the production cost by Rs.12.00 per kilo.

Minister Gunewardene also revealed during committee deliberations that 61 retail traders who sold rice at prices higher than Government stipulated prices had been nabbed and cases filed against them in courts. The Minister also said that the district secretaries had been provided with an initial sum of Rs.10 million to buy stocks of paddy for Yala season to maintain emergency stocks.

The Minister added that the import tax on potatoes had been upped from Rs. 15.00 to Rs.20.00 as there were ample stocks of local potatoes in the market. In addition local potatoes were fetching a higher price than the imported ones, the Minister said.

The Committee also has decided to take viable measures to keep fish prices at bay by selling fish at stipulated prices through Fisheries Cooperation outlets. Ministers Tissa Vitharana, Kumara Bergama, Felix Perera, Karu Jayasuriya, S. B. Nawinna, Parliamentarian Basil Rajapaksa and President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunga too attended the deliberations.