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More Lankans consume rice flour now
Sri Lanka’s per capita wheat flour consumption has dropped from 35.5 kilos in 2004 to 24.2 kilos in 2011 while the rice flour consumption has increased from 94.1 kilos to 117 kilos during this period, Internal Trade Minister Johnston Fernando revealed in Parliament. He was responding to a question asked by United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekara.
The minister said this was a positive trend and pointed out that that it was the result of the Government levying high taxes on wheat flour to discourage consumption.
“We have done this to boost local rice consumption,” he said and added that a loan scheme was launched in 2011 to support Sri Lanka’s rice flour industry.
The minister said the Government had also banned the sale of wheat flour products at school canteens while during 2009-2011 some Rs.14 million was spent to promote rice flour consumption in the estate sector. According to the statistics revealed in the House, only 12,938 kilos of rice were milled in 2009 but it had increased to 36,687 kilos in 2010, 202,235 kilos in 2011 and 197,927 in 2012. (KB)
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