Pettah wholesale rice traders said that the government had imposed price controls on rice and they were incurring huge losses as a result.“The Government sold basmati rice at Rs. 80 a kilo incurring a huge loss, but now they have run out of stocks to sell. They will bear the losses because of the elections,” a spokesperson of the traders’ union said. According to him most traders can’t sell their stocks due to the inherent losses and they can neither refuse to sell at those prices nor choose not to sell their stocks.
The traders’ spokesperson said the traders could not find a way to sell at the prices decided upon by the government even if they imported rice, since the problem lay in the prices dictated by the government. “How can we sell basmati at Rs.70 per kilo when it costs around Rs. 80 to import a kilogram?” he asked.
He said that a limited number of traders’ were allowed to import rice duty free and that this privilege should be extended to all traders. Some of the traders were politically backed and they manipulated the supply of rice to make huge profits. “Like the supply of rice, even the supply and stocks of poultry feed are manipulated by politically backed traders,” spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, the government alleged yesterday, that the rice shortage was artificially created and that it was an attempt by the traders to inconvenience the public in the run up to the Presidential Election. Although the president of the Rice Millers Association of Sri Lanka, Mr. G.G.W. Sirisena, rejected the government’s claims and invited the government to inspect their mills.
DM
ratin hal genawa
"api wawamu rata hadamu"
pita rata gowiyata "suba anagathayak" ??
The traders’ spokesperson said the traders could not find a way to sell at the prices decided upon by the government even if they imported rice, since the problem lay in the prices dictated by the government. “How can we sell basmati at Rs.70 per kilo when it costs around Rs. 80 to import a kilogram?” he asked.
He said that a limited number of traders’ were allowed to import rice duty free and that this privilege should be extended to all traders. Some of the traders were politically backed and they manipulated the supply of rice to make huge profits. “Like the supply of rice, even the supply and stocks of poultry feed are manipulated by politically backed traders,” spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, the government alleged yesterday, that the rice shortage was artificially created and that it was an attempt by the traders to inconvenience the public in the run up to the Presidential Election. Although the president of the Rice Millers Association of Sri Lanka, Mr. G.G.W. Sirisena, rejected the government’s claims and invited the government to inspect their mills.
DM
ratin hal genawa
"api wawamu rata hadamu"
pita rata gowiyata "suba anagathayak" ??
