The prices of different verities of rice went up by Tk 3 to Tk 6 in the last two days in the district while that of onion came down slightly.
Visiting Hazi Shariatullah Bazar in the town, the UNB correspondent found Miniket rice (grade 1) was selling at Tk 48 per kg on Tuesday morning against Tk 42 on Sunday.
Likewise, ‘Kajal Lata’ price rose from Tk 38 to 46 while that of Najirshail from Tk 50 to Tk 54, Basmati from Tk 46 to Tk 52 and the price of coarse rice shot up from Tk 35 to Tk 38 in the market.
Asked about the cause of rice price spiral, Ribon Gain, a rice trader of Shariatullah Bazar, told UNB that the price was increased at the warehouse.
Hanif Sheikh, a retail rice buyer, said he had pay Tk 6 to Tk 8 extra per kg.
“Why should the rice price go up in this season?” he questioned.
In the wake of newspaper reports, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumdar on Sunday said there should not be any problem with rice price as happened in the case of onion.
“I’ve learned from newspapers that rice prices have gone up slightly in the last few days. However, our reserves are still high. Like onion prices, there shouldn’t be any problem with rice prices." he said.
Addressing a meeting with rice-mill owners at Khadiya Bhaban, the minister said, "There has been an unnecessary scam over onion price… it shouldn’t happen to rice."