Rise of rice price puts pressure on consumers

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Feb. 4: Despite the production season of new rice, the market price of rice has been skyrocketing, putting pressures on consumers and affecting their daily kitchen. The price of rice has increased by up to Rs. 20 kg, depending on their varieties in the retail market over a month, said retailers.

"This is the season of the arrival of new rice in the market and the price has to go down. But the price has been increasing significantly in almost every week or month," said Amul Kaji Tuladhar, general secretary of Nepal Retailer Association.

In the last one month, the price of rice increased by Rs. 10-20 per kg based on the quality of rice," he said.

The price of Trishuli-Pokhareli rice has increased to Rs. 95 per kg at present from Rs. 75 per kg a month ago.

Similarly, Steam Jeera Masino rice has increased by Rs. 10 per kg to Rs. 90, Steam Sona to Rs. 65 per kg in a month.  A kilogram of long grain basmati reached Rs. 165.

He said, "There is no reason for the increase in the price of rice when new rice comes to the market. Suppliers and wholesalers are selling rice at higher prices to retailers citing the increase in import costs," he said.

According to him, the wholesaler and supplier are selling rice under invoice which shows that there is no reason behind increasing the price of rice.

Due to this, the consumers have been compelled to purchase rice at a higher rate, he said, adding that monitoring the wholesalers and suppliers to check the unnatural price hike of rice is a must. 

"There is no arrival of new rice in the market till date. This shows that a large amount of rice might be in the stock of the traders and they will supply in the market considering the present price rate,” Tuladhar said. However, there is no short supply of rice in the market. 

In the past, the price of rice used to fall by around Rs. 10-20 per kg during this season due to improved supply.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD), paddy production has increased by 6.94 per cent to 5.486 million tonnes in the fiscal year 2022/23 compared to last year’s production. This paddy will be enough to produce 3.52 million tonnes of rice. 

A total of 5.13 million tonnes of paddy was produced in the last fiscal year 2021/22. In the fiscal year, 2020/21, Nepal had grown 5.621 million tonnes of paddy, the highest yield. 

According to this calculation, there is a shortage of about 480,000 tonnes of rice in Nepal.

In the meantime, paddy and rice worth Rs. 18.63 billion have been imported during the first six months of the current fiscal year. This is 31 per cent lower than the import of the same period last fiscal year. The country imported rice and paddy worth Rs. 27.13 billion during the first six months of the last fiscal year.