Rice prices have increased by Tk 3 to Tk 5 per kilogramme across all categories over the past month, despite the recent Boro harvest and continuing imports of the staple grain.

Prices of different rice varieties have increased by Tk 3-Tk 5 per kg in the capital over the last two weeks even though the country is in the middle of the harvesting season.

As of the first week of March, the private sector had imported only 2.63 lakh tonnes of rice against the approved 16.75 lakh tonnes

The prices of almost all varieties of rice have been increasing over the past three weeks, despite the withdrawal of import duties and the inflow of rice imports.

Prices of almost all varieties of rice have gone up in the capital’s kitchen markets over the last one week.

Indian farmers have planted 39.8 million hectares (98.3 million acres) with rice, up 3.7 percent on the same period last year, farm ministry data showed on Friday, as record high prices prompted farmers to expand the area.

Abdul Wahab, a security guard at an ATM booth of a private bank in the capital, works 16 hours a day.

Expressing resentment over the hike in rice prices despite high yields of paddy, the parliamentary standing committee on agriculture ministry yesterday asked senior officials of the agriculture ministry to identify and take action against those responsible.

Bangladesh made gains in food production and ensured the availability of rice in recent years. But surging inflation, erratic weather, and the Russia-Ukraine war affected the availability of cereals and reduced low-income people’s access to food this year.

Bangladesh’s recent cut in import duty of non-basmati rice has pushed up prices of the grain in India’s domestic markets by ten percent in the last five days, and is causing a rush among Indian exporters to go for deals with the neighbouring country.

The government has decided to allow private firms to import duty free rice to keep the rice market stable.

Hoarding by small traders as well as large business groups has been causing rice prices to soar, giving low-income people a hard time.

The prices of rice rose by Tk 8-10 per kg over the last two weeks even though it is the harvesting season and there is ample supply of paddy.

The government's food stock saw a rise this year compared to the same period last year. This was mainly due to a significant

Over the last few months, Rupali Akter, the breadwinner of a five-member family in Savar's industrial belt, had to buy some of the essentials on credit from nearby groceries. With a monthly income of Tk 10,000 including overtime, the sewing operator at a garment factory is unable to pay for all the products she buys, as prices of essentials -- from rice to vegetables -- has been on the rise.

Food officials have not been properly monitoring the market for long, allowing a section of unscrupulous traders to do business of essentials like rice and wheat without having licence and hoard them.

At a time when consumers are hit hard by high prices of rice, a section of government-appointed dealers allegedly sold rice, meant for Open Market Sale programme, in the market.

Following a blame game over volatility in the rice market, the government and rice traders reached some decisions yesterday to help

With no let-up in the spiraling rice price, the government has planned to expand Open Market Sale of subsidised foodgrains to the upazilas across the country.

With rice prices soaring across the country, the government yesterday made a rather delayed intervention in the form of distribution of