The Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe

¶ 01 Hon. Member, that is what I explained. For a commodity with inelastic demand, margins are not set arbitrarily. A shopkeeper cannot make Rs. 10 on rice. Now Sathosa sells at Rs. 220 having bought at Rs. 215. That means the overall business recovers margins across the basket. Some items have 25–35 percent profit; some, like salt, go even up to 92 percent. On rice, the margin is very small. Some wholesalers told us they could not even pay NBT from the given margin. Based on all the evidence to our Council, we determined two prices to address the current situation. We set Rs. 5 for that reason. Previously there was one price; under that, everything below it had to be absorbed by the traders. Now at least at Rs. 215 wholesale, the retailer has a minimum space. Your first question is reasonably answered.

¶ 02 On your remaining parts: Paddy was purchased at Rs. 110–115 per kilo. When the CAA did the calculation for maximum retail price, they stated a 2.1 cost multiplier. Basic cost into 2.1 yields the MRP, accounting for transport, storage, interest, stock holding for about four months, etc. Considering all those, applying 2.1 to Rs. 110–115 gives the MRP. We set the Rs. 5 to ensure the retailer has at least a minimal margin. That is why we did so. That concludes your first question.

¶ 03 2. We set the wholesale price with a Rs. 5 margin to retail.

¶ 04 3. As of now, Nadu stock is 40,795 metric tons, according to information as at 17 December. We are monitoring; CAA officers are at main mills including Polonnaruwa. All have agreed to send daily quantities to Sathosa. Currently, they are sending 10,000–25,000 kilos daily aggregates. At present around 300 metric tons per day are sold through Sathosa—this is domestically procured rice, without imported rice. They have also released some stocks. The remaining is as stated. Given these quantities, by mid-December or January, paddy stocks will be exhausted. That is the answer to your third question.

¶ 05 4. As I said earlier, our paddy production exceeds 4 million metric tons; milled, about 2.98 million metric tons of rice. All calculations are based on our data. We have been in government for only a month. Together with the Agriculture Ministry, we reviewed the data. Annually, consumption is about 2.4 million metric tons of rice, but for about two and a half months we have additional production. Yet people lack rice in the shops. Also, a quantity of paddy goes for animal feed; we cannot stop that as it is needed for consumption patterns. Last year, around 780,000 metric tons of rice were imported. In most past years, more was imported. We are trying to do this while protecting both the farmer and the consumer. To protect the farmer, this tax framework exists; thus paddy prices are Rs. 115–120. Otherwise, prices would collapse and farmers could not continue. Therefore, we assure that barring an emergency or disaster, this will be the last round of rice importation. The disaster we faced this time is not simple; for example, in the Eastern Province alone, over 100,000 hectares were damaged, and replanting is not possible. If no such natural disasters occur, we assure this will be the last time we import rice. Thereafter we will not import rice. To manage this, the Cabinet has named a committee for food security. Through that, instead of importing, we will commence a rice management process domestically. The Government will begin purchasing paddy. Thus, the Government will intervene to answer the market mafia.