Dealers cry over excess rice

16 May 2010 11:34 am

By Indika Sri Aravinda


Over 10,000 Metric Tons (MT) of excess white rice imported from Pakistan by dealers who had obtained bank loans for this purpose has now been kept under storage in Pettah as local white rice is in abundance and selling at a cheaper rate, Dealers told Daily Mirror online.

According to a spokesman the importers had obtained huge bank loans to import the white rice expecting a serious shortage of rice in Sri Lanka but at the time the stocks arrived local rice was a plenty and selling at a cheaper price.

The white rice from Pakistan was purchased at a wholesale price of Rs. 58 per kilo from Pakistan and was to be sold in Sri Lanka for around Rs. 59-60 to the consumer while the local white rice is selling at Rs. 50-52 a kilo.

Dealers say as a result of the cheaper local produce the imported rice cannot be sold as the dealers would run into a further financial loss and so the stocks have now been stored until a solution could be reached. (Daily Mirror online)