Rice has been removed from the list of products available through the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh’s (TCB) Family Card program for January.
TCB explained that this decision was made due to the Food Department’s inability to supply rice.
Consequently, around 3.7 million cardholders will not receive any TCB products this month due to the ongoing transition from handwritten family cards to smart digital cards.
In a press release issued on January 7, TCB clarified that cardholders will still be able to purchase two liters of edible oil, two kilograms of lentils, and one kilogram of sugar in January.
However, rice, which has been a staple offering, will not be available this month.
Since July 2023, TCB had been providing five kilograms of rice at a price of Tk 30 per kilogram per family card, with the rice being supplied by the Food Department.
However, TCB Information Officer Humayun Kabir explained that rice distribution was suspended in January due to a shortage.
"The Food Department supplied rice until December. Without the rice supply this month, it is not possible for us to continue," Kabir said. He added that TCB is still in communication with the Food Department, and once the rice becomes available again, distribution will resume.
Normally, the Food Department supplies around 50,000 tons of rice each month to TCB. However, there is no budget allocation for this supply in either the Food Department’s or the Ministry of Commerce’s budget, which has led to the current disruption.
The Food Ministry has requested an allocation of Tk 1,534 crore for open market sales and Tk 3,372 crore for rice imports, but as of now, no decision has been made regarding these requests.
In the meantime, rice prices have increased by Tk 3–4 per kilogram in the capital over the past week. Coarse rice is now being sold at Tk 54–58 per kilogram, compared to Tk 50–55 per kilogram until December.
Currently, approximately 10 million low-income families benefit from TCB’s affordable products. While edible oil, lentils, and sugar are regularly available, rice and onions are distributed only occasionally, with additional products like chickpeas and dates made available during Ramadan.
The government is also in the process of replacing handwritten family cards with smart digital cards. As of now, 5.7 million customers have received their smart cards, and another 600,000 are being prepared for distribution.
The final batch of cards is expected to be delivered by the end of this month, which will allow a maximum of 630,000 customers to access TCB products in January.
The remaining 130,000 cardholders are still undergoing identity verification, and new cards will be issued to eligible individuals once the process is completed.
