DNCRP to raid rice mills, warehouses over hoarding

The Directorate of National Consumers Right Protection (DNCRP) has decided to conduct drives at the country's mills and warehouses in a bid to stop illegal rice hoarding.

Earlier it had conducted drives at retail and wholesale markets to keep rice supply and its price stable.

The move comes following a meeting held at the DNCRP headquarters in Dhaka on Monday.

The meeting was attended by stockists, millers, corporates, and superstores' owners including representatives from City Group, Pran-RFL Group, Akij Food and Beverage Ltd, Meghna Group, and Bangladesh Edible Oil Limited.

Addressing the event, DNCRP Director General (DG) AHM Shafiquzzaman said, "Those who are trying to destabilise the essentials market need to be identified."

"The government will procure a total of 1.1 million tonnes of rice this year.  Rice millers and corporations have been instructed to provide information about their stock by Thursday.

"We will start conducting drives from next week," he added.

The consumer directorate DG also expressed his dissatisfaction with the prices of packaged rice. 

"Fancy rice costs almost double the regular. The share of the corporate companies in the rice market will also be probed."

However, Amitabh Chatterjee, an adviser to the City Group, said that corporates collect and sell only 8-9% of Bangladesh's total rice production. 

"This small amount is not supposed to have such a big impact on the market," he added.