Launching a major assault on the countryโs raging Cost of Living, Sri Lanka closed its international tender call for 200,000 MT rice tranche and swiftly enlisted its vast cooperative network on 1 November to battle the countryโs cost of living onslaught which is now entering the wild territory. Sri Lanka also announced a new, state owned FMCG wholesale store chain to deliver essentials at low, warehouse prices -to anyone and in any asked volumes- as a stopgap measure in its Cost of Living control.
โOur international tender to import 200,000 MT rice closed yesterday 31 October. Rice samples submitted with tender bids are being forwarded to ITI for lab tests. The 200,000 MT total consists of 90000 MT Parboiled Nadu rice, 60000 MT Samba (Parboiled) rice and 50000 MT White Raw riceโ said the Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bthudeen on 1 November in Colombo. Minister Bthiudeen, joined by Chairman of Lanka Sathosa TMKB Tennakoon and Director of his Ministry Mrs Indika Ranatunga was addressing a special press briefing on the domestic rice market at CWE offices at Vauxhall Street, Colombo.. Minister Bathiudeen lowered prices of several essential items โa further cost reduction -sold by 370 outlet strong Lanka Sathosa chain under his Ministry, with immediate effect; Red dhal at Rs 148 per kilo (from Rs 152), Samba rice at Rs 78 (from Rs 80), broken rice at Rs 60 (from Rs 65), parboiled โNaduโ rice at Rs 73 (from Rs 74) and white raw rice at 64 (from Rs 65).
The latest tender is, unlike previous โGovernment to Governmentโ (G2G) tenders, a โSri Lanka government to local and international private sectorโ call. A total of 34 local and international private sector suppliers have quoted for the 200,000 MT tender, announced on 19 October and closed on 31 October. Private sector suppliers from Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand, India, and Vietnam are among them. Several Sri Lankan suppliers also quoted. This week the Ministry will forward all the quotes to the Cabinet Appointed High Powered Tender Board which will compare prices of these international and local private sector suppliers with โgovernment to governmentโ prices quoted in previous G2G tender calls, before making any final selections. The high powered tender board is expected to pick the qualifying suppliers during the coming week.
โ17100 MT of nadu rice from India are now in the markets and 53000 MT more will come by the middle of this month. We have also opened a 25 new wholesale outlets under state owned retail market chain Lanka Sathosa which operates under my Ministry-one wholesale outlet per District. Lanka Sathosa is a retail network but we have opened wholesale outletsโ said Minister Bathiudeen, and added: โThese outlets are now selling all essential items to anyone at wholesale prices and in any volumes asked for. We have also launched essential items delivery to 4000 cooperatives across the country at wholesale prices from the 25 new wholesale outlets. Our cooperative network is vast, its cooperative retail shops are widely present in villages so that majority of consumers can now buy essential items at low prices or Maximum Retail Prices since they can now receive items ย directly from state owned wholesale shops.โ
There are almost 14500 cooperatives-in various productions services, SMEs, womenโs development, rural banking, insurance and farming sectors-active in Sri Lanka. Through โCoop Cityโ shops, cooperatives are also now present in the countryโs FMCG retail sector. Lankan coop-city shop network is the third ranking retail chain for household purchases among Sri Lankans out of all the top six supermarket chains- Keells supermarkets ranked fourth, and Arpico at fifth.
More than 400,000 households in Sri Lanka visit coop city cooperative shops for their essential purchases and 800,000 households visit Lanka Sathosa network for the same.
Leader of All Ceylon Makkal Congress