Pakatan MPs want Bernas concession reviewed

Hailey Chung Wee Kye Chan Kok Leong Hailey Chung Wee Kye, Chan Kok Leong Updated 3 years ago · Published on 10 Dec 2020 3:04PM · 1 Comments

Opposition MPs allege that Bernas’s continued stranglehold on the national rice industry means other companies, including bumiputera players, lose out. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, December 10, 2020.

THE government must review its 10-year rice import concession extension given to Padiberas Nasional Bhd (Bernas) as the monopoly is choking competition in the rice industry, said Pakatan Harapan MPs in Parliament today.

“It will cause missed opportunities. The industry will be on the old notch for the next 10 years,” said the MPs, led by former deputy agriculture and food industries minister Sim Tze Tzin (Bayan Baru), along with Dr Azman Ismail (Kuala Kedah), Chan Ming Kai (Alor Setar) and Amin Ahmad (Kangar).

They called on the government to review the decision announced by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries (Mafi) to retain Bernas as the single gatekeeper for rice imports till January 2031.

“One of the reasons the rice sector is less viable is due to the monopoly and dominance of Bernas in the value chain of the rice industry.

“We do not deny the contribution of Bernas in terms of ensuring the stability of supply and price of rice during the pandemic.

“The government can actually only extend the monopoly status for two to three years until the pandemic problem is resolved.”

The monopoly extension is causing other companies, such as manufacturers, wholesalers and downstream industries in the sector to lose out, they said.

“Eventually, many industry players had to close down including many manufacturers and bumiputera companies.

“The number of padi producers was 1,597 in 1981, but only 157 remained in 2015.”

Previously, the government extended Bernas’s concession in 2011 to manage the country’s rice supply for 10 years. The current concession will end in January next year.

The MPs said that when PH was in government, it had started the process of opening the monopoly of rice imports in stages to benefit the rice sector.

“The direction has been set in the PH manifesto. Government change has thwarted our plans.

“Unfortunately, the Perikatan Nasional government made decisions according to the old policy of the past.

“Therefore, the padi and rice sector has to wait another 10 years before any changes can be implemented.”

They added that, despite farmers receiving large subsidies (RM1.7 billion annually), the rice industry remained stuck because the majority of farmers were in the B40 category.

Young people have also shown disinterest in venturing into the sector, leaving it to the poor and elderly, they said. – December 10, 2020.

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Comments

  • The local paddy industries will not affected by the extension of bernas import concession. The local paddy industry is an open market where every miller can buy paddy and compete to buy paddy with the competitive price offered by various miller. Many miller being closed down due to small in nature. They dont have the scale to compete with the big miller. The big miller like jati, hayat maju, dataran pusaka which can buy around 40,000 to 50,000 rice per year has the strong financial back up, has their own marketing arm for wholesaling, has the machine capacity to process the paddy and incorporate latest technology in paddy processing like hot water and put machine system in the processing line. Small miller cannot compete and does not have wholesaling and distribution channel to market their product. They dependent with other wholesaler to buy their rice. It all about free market or capitalism as it best. Please understand that before saying anything!!!

    Posted 3 years ago by Raslan Jaafar · Reply