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The country's leading food sector companies raised local aromatic rice price to a record high, as maximum retail price (MRP) of Chinigura reached Tk 170 a kg in the capital this month, said grocers.
Pran, BRAC, Square, BEOL, Meghna, City, TK, ACI, Utshab, Nabil and other leading companies raised the MRP of their branded fragrant rice to Tk 159-170 a kg from Tk 150 a kg earlier.
Though the government organisations concerned hardly have any record of aromatic rice price, the same produce was Tk 125-130 a kg a year back, according to grocers and consumers.
"Pran company's sales representatives have taken orders on Tuesday, and MRP for its Chinigura rice has been fixed at Tk 170 a kg," said Md Farid Hossain, manager of Bismillah Store at West Dhanmondi.
He said BEOL delivered products of Rupchanda brand at Tk 160 a kg last month. Its price might also increase, following that of Pran.
Ali Hasan, a grocer at Razia Sultana Road in Mohammadpur area, said rise in prices of Chashi (rice brand of Square), Fresh (Meghna), ACI, Pushti (TK), Teer (City), and Aarong (BRAC) is also in the pipeline.
The FE failed to get comments over phone from Pran and some other companies in this regard despite efforts on Tuesday.
Anup Kumar Saha, Chief Operating Officer of Nabil Group - which markets Chinigura rice of Nabil brand, said paddy prices hit a record high in this Aman harvesting season.
His company markets 12,500 tonnes of aromatic rice annually, of which maximum 1,200 tonnes are sold in packet form.
He said minimum production cost of BRRI 34 rice is now Tk 127 per kg, and the company is selling it at Tk 129.50 per kg to wholesalers.
Meanwhile, loose fragrant rice price also increased to Tk 140-145 a kg, marking Tk 12-15 a kg hike in last few days, according to grocers.
Hajrat Ali Sajib, proprietor of Olima Traders in Nilphamari, said the price surge is unusual in the first week of February, as the harvest season just ended in January and there is plenty of supply in the market.
Aromatic rice retail price increased to Tk 140 a kg in this area this week, which was Tk 125-127 a kg earlier.
He also said aromatic paddy price like BRRI 34 and Chinigura increased to Tk 3,100 a maund, which was Tk 2,500 in the first week of January.
Big companies have bought half of the aromatic paddy, produced in Dinajpur, Rangpur and Naogaon hubs in January and February.
Bangladesh Auto Major Husking Mills Owners Association Secretary K M Layek Ali said the companies decide aromatic rice price, and the mainstream millers have only 25 per cent of aromatic rice market share.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh Vice President S M Nazer Hossain said the companies are in a hurry to raise rice prices long before the Ramadan, set to start from last week of March.
The traders have been following this trend for the last few years to avoid criticism of price hike during the fasting month, he noted.
Aromatic rice segment in the market is almost unregulated, which encourages the biggies to set prices at their wish.
Strict market monitoring is now needed to keep prices of essentials within reach of common people, he added.
The Ministry of Commerce imposed restriction on non-aromatic rice export last year amid rocketing price in the domestic market.
Private sector exporters and the leading companies made shipment of 10,000 tonnes of fragrant rice in last financial year.
However, 10,000-12,000 tonnes of high segment aromatic rice were also imported by local traders from India, Pakistan, UAE and other countries.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE), total aromatic rice production in Aman season is above 1.0 million tonnes, of which BRRI 34 comprises 0.5 million tonnes.