Indian rice forcing Pabna mills to shut down

With the rice imported from neighbouring India selling at lower prices, the demand for the local varieties is on the decline, pushing 65 percent of rice mills in Pabna into closure, say owners.

Around 800 rice mills in the district, including Ishwardi, a hub for the factories, are also facing shutdown for the slump in sales of local rice varieties.

This has brought many rice mill owners to their knees, while some 20,000 workers are living amid extreme hardship.

Talking to the news agency, mill owners said that as the rice sale had fallen sharply in the last two months, they had to count a loss of Tk 15,000-30,000 from milling a truck of rice.

Sadek Ali Biswas, an owner in Ishwardi, said they did not dare husk rice anymore. As a result, about 20,000 mill owners, rice traders, and workers are sitting idle now in Ishwardi, he said.

Sadek said almost half the rice mill workers in Pabna were females. 

Due to the transport blockade, a huge stock of local varieties remains unsold, while low-priced Indian rice has flooded the local markets, bringing down the prices of local rice even further.

Traders say the Guti-Swarna variety now sells at Tk 595-600 per maund against the previous Tk 700-750. Falls were also seen in Sumon-Swarna, BRRI-49, BRRI-39 and Parija varieties.

Mill owners observed that the situation has occurred as the government imports and exports rice at the same time.

One sack of Indian rice sells for Tk 1,400-1,600, or Tk 28-29 per kg, while the local ones sell at Tk 1,700-2,000 each sack, or Tk 35-37 a kg.