Bernas blames private commercial millers for rice shortage

KUALA LUMPUR: Padiberas Nasional Berhad (Bernas) has blamed private commercial millers for the recent rice shortage in the local market.

Bernas managing director Bakry Hamzah said private millers who controlled 55% of the local rice market had significantly reduced their production in expectation that prices would rise.

“This move has put pressure on Bernas to meet nearly 100% of the country's needs following the artificial shortage,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Bernas was not the cause of the shortage but had to strive to enhance production by importing more in the past four months to meet people's needs, he said.

“Bernas would like to stress that despite the sharp increase in the price of rice in the global market, the company has not raised the price of imported rice to the wholesalers since April 2007,” he said.

On Monday, a newspaper reported that Bernas had cut imports by nearly 40% in the past four months due to price increases in the international market.

The report said Bernas had imported about 300,000 tonnes of rice since January while the ideal level was at least 500,000 tonnes to meet demand.

Bakry said that while the price of rice in the world market had increased three-fold and saw neighbouring countries facing a supply shortage crisis, Bernas was still able to secure enough imports. – Bernama