TCB to sell rice for first time, OMS scope to shrink

The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will add rice to its list of food items sold at subsidised rates among the country's low-income group from July, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi announced Tuesday at the launch of the product sale programme in the capital.

Under the new initiative, about 1 crore TCB cardholders will get to purchase 5 kilograms of rice every month, and to compensate for the additional costs of the TCB sales the activities of Open Market Sale (OMS) programme would be shrunk.

Until now, TCB used to sell edible oil, sugar and lentils at affordable rates for the poor. In Ramadan, chickpeas and dates are also sold by the organisation.

TCB Joint Director Humayun Kabir told The Business Standard that the price of rice, under the new TCB initiative, would not exceed the OMS price – which is Tk30 per kg of rice. He assured that unlike other TCB items, rice would not be bought through tender notices. The same rice sold under OMS programmes would be sold through TCB, Humayun added.

TCB would procure rice from the dealers under the Directorate General of Food, thereby reducing the operations of OMS. The areas where OMS will be shut down are yet to be fixed.

A director of the Directorate General of Food, preferring anonymity, said some areas would see OMS activities closed while these would continue in some other areas. But, the overall scope of OMS would be reduced without doubt, to cater for the increased rice supplies for regular TCB operations.

The list of OMS areas would be updated soon, the official said.

Tipu Munshi said that to reduce price pressures on consumers and comply with international price falls, TCB has reduced the price of per litre edible oil by Tk10. Discussions are ongoing with businessmen to also reduce prices of other TCB items like oil and lentils.

Consumer prices are high globally, but still the government is doing its utmost to contain inflation in the country, the minister said.

At present, two litres of edible oil are sold at the rate of Tk100 every month to each of the one crore TCB cardholders. About Tk70 is charged for a kilogram of sugar, and Tk70 is charged for each of the two kilograms of lentils sold every month to a TCB cardholder.

The commerce minister said he has asked the relevant authorities to ensure that TCB's affordable staple food purchase programme reaches its target community and that "affluent fraudsters" are prevented from exploiting the low-price initiative. TCB cards are being updated to include "smart identification features," which would curb the number of fraud beneficiaries along with other irregularities, Tipu Munshi added.