Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe - Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Co-operative Development
The Minister provided year-by-year data on rice imports from 2015 to January 2025, including quantities, CIF values, source countries, and noted that the full list of importers had been placed in the Library as a soft copy. He said major import volumes occurred in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2022, and explained that some specialty rice imports were made for diplomatic missions and specific restaurants with official authorization. He stated that 169,470 metric tons were imported between December 2024 and January 2025 in anticipation of shortages, while Government policy remains to promote domestic production, minimize imports, coordinate with relevant ministries to prevent shortages, and purchase paddy stocks to stabilize prices.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, the answers are as follows:
¶ 02 (a) (i) Quantity of rice imported (Metric Tons):
¶ 03 - 2015: 285,604.2 - 2016: 29,524.0 - 2017: 747,800.0 - 2018: 248,900.9 - 2019: 24,192.7 - 2020: 15,770.3 - 2021: 14,680.3 - 2022: 783,420.0 - 2023 (Jan–Nov): 176,000 - 2024 Jan 1 to 2025 Jan 20: 12,419.5
¶ 04 (ii) CIF value (Rs. million): - 2015: 17,956.04 - 2016: 1,871.76 - 2017: 45,881.28 - 2018: 16,678.87 - 2019: 2,292.50 - 2020: 1,936.09 - 2021: 14,680.28 - 2022: 87,422.72 - 2023: 5,602.76
¶ 05 CIF value from 2024 Jan to 2025 Jan: Rs. 24,278 million.
¶ 06 (iii) Importing countries include: India, Myanmar, Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, Thailand, USA, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Chinese Taipei, UAE, Malaysia, Australia, Cambodia, Italy, Hong Kong (China), Republic of Korea, Venezuela, Japan, Maldives, Germany, United Kingdom, Qatar.
¶ 07 (iv) The list of importers spans about 25–30 pages; a soft copy (CD) has been placed in the Library.
¶ 08 (v) Significant import volumes occurred in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2022. In addition to commercial imports reflected in Sri Lanka Customs data, certain foreign embassies/consulates based in Sri Lanka import specialty rice (e.g., Jasmine, Basmati, Sticky rice) for their use and for specific restaurants; such imports are authorized by the Controller General of Imports and Exports.
¶ 09 Based on our assessments, anticipating shortages by December 2024, 169,470 MT were imported between 08.12.2024 and 10.01.2025. Nevertheless, Government policy is to promote domestic production and minimize imports. A programme is being prepared, considering factors that led to recent shortages, in coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation and other agencies. The Government also intervenes in the market by purchasing paddy stocks to stabilize prices.
¶ 10 (b) Does not arise.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Tuesday, 25 February 2025 ·No. 1741258607035810 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe - Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Co-operative Development. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 25 February 2025. No. 1741258607035810. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/26570