No More Free Rice Trading in Arakan, says the SPDC

Sittwe, December 17:From the middle of November, rice trading in Arakan State cannot be done freely anymore. As par the order of the President of Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC), the village head-men stopped the rice trading between villages and towns, and warned that breaches of the order will be severely punished.

The ban has led to the dramatic decline of the rice price. Last year, a hundred Tinn (3,000 kilogram) of rice, priced at 200,000 kyats but this year it is priced at only 100,000 kyats. However, due to the ban, no one wants to buy the rice.

The Arakan State authority instructed the Arakan State Major Business Association to buy all the rice produced with 120,000 for a hundred Tinn (3,000 kilogram), according to a farmer who was quoting the president of the Association. However, there has not been any offer of purchase from the Association.

However, the set price is too low to make any profit for the farmers. Arakanese farmers had expected a better rice market when the junta abolished the state rice monopoly last year. However, with the new restriction the farmers’ hope is in vain, said a farmer from the town of Ponar Gwan, 16 miles north of Sittwe.

He continued, “I think the junta tried to get the rice price down, so the farmer would want to get the government to get involved again in the rice trade.” Since only the Major Business Person Association are allowed to engage in rice trading, those who want to do rice trading are trying to get into the Association.