The Hon. Wasantha Samarasinghe - Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Co-operative Development

¶ 01 Mr. Speaker, Hon. Namal Rajapaksa has expressed particular fears about a mafia regarding rice. It is good that Hon. Chanaka is also in the House at this time. It is good that both are here together; then I can answer this question.

¶ 02 Mr. Speaker, regarding the Sathosa tender for rice, the issue is this: Government tenders follow set criteria. Tenders are rejected only if they fail to comply with those procedures. As I said yesterday, we called the Sathosa tender four times; this is the fourth tender. At present, the relevant tender is being evaluated. The private sector is importing rice; they are bringing in rice and releasing it to the market.

¶ 03 To address tightness in the rice market, the Government limited restrictions under two steps. First, we liberalized imports on 21 December. As that period was insufficient, we extended the liberalization until 10 January 2025. By 10 January—in the coming days—we expect approximately another 40,000 metric tons of rice to arrive in the country. Therefore, there is no general shortage of rice. However, there is a tightness regarding red raw rice. The reason is this: before the Presidential Election, you distributed 20 kilos of rice, including to people who do not even consume red rice. Thus a shortage emerged. That is what caused the problem and led to tightness in red rice.

¶ 04 However, Hon. Member, together with the main Maha season harvest, arrangements have been made for the Paddy Marketing Board, Sathosa, and the Co-operative Movement to coordinate and purchase sufficient stocks for about one and a half months, so that even if there is tightness in the rice market at any time, consumers will not be burdened. We assure you we will intervene to resolve the issue in the rice market.