Cheaper Atap or pricey Shiddho?

Tofayel Alam has been facing economic hardship with the rice price skyrocketing these days.

Still, old habits die hard and so he refused to buy cheaper white rice (Atap) on offer under Open Market Sale yesterday. Tofayel would rather go for the pricey parboiled rice (Shiddho) in the retail market than the subsidised one.

It's all about habit and consumers' preference for one over another.

A fourth-class employee of the Geological Survey of Bangladesh, Tofayel went to an OMS point in the capital's Mugda along with his wife. But when he saw only white rice was on offer, though at Tk 20 less per kg than the retail price, he didn't buy it.

He told The Daily Star that his family always eats parboiled rice.

The couple were, however, happy purchasing 10 kg flour at only Tk 17 per kg against Tk 30 in the retail shops from the OMS dealer selling subsidised foodgrains from a truck.

 “The flour that we have purchased will be enough for one month,” Tofayel said.  

Standing in a queue before another OMS point at Green Road, a few women of lower-income bracket were curiously inspecting the white rice being sold. Three of them immediately bought flour but were hesitant to buy rice.

The OMS dealer and some other customers then suggested that white rice should not be any less rice than the parboiled one.

Finally, the women from Tejkunipara neighborhood were convinced that they should grab the opportunity to get Tk 20 price benefit by purchasing white rice at Tk 30 a kg.  

About to leave, one of them said she never tasted white rice but bought it since it was cheaper there than the retail price.

The government launched OMS operation yesterday across the country. In Dhaka, as many as 109 dealers were appointed, most of whom received only white rice from the food department.

Officials told The Daily Star that an overwhelming large portion of 3.39 lakh tonnes of the rice stock that the government now has is white rice. And out of 2.5 lakh tonnes of rice imported recently from Vietnam, only 50,000 tonnes are parboiled while the rest are white rice.