Fall in paddy arrivals puts miller in dilemma

COIMBATORE: Millers across Tamil Nadu are in a grind as uncertainty continues in the wake of acute scarcity in paddy arrivals from rice-growing states.

Paddy arrivals to Tamil Nadu from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have dipped drastically by almost 70 per cent over the last six months.

“Because of an acute shortage in paddy, the millers in Tirupur have reduced production of rice from six days a week to barely three days. Till a few months ago, mills used to process up to 500 tonnes of paddy per month into rice. As the situation turned grim, barely half its quantity gets processed now due to the shortfall,” said C Devaraj, a miller from Tirupur.

A sharp decline in paddy arrivals from neighbouring states has eventually led to an increase in their prices too.

“Paddy costs Rs 34 per kg as against Rs 24 some six months ago. However, the cost of rice has not increased much in the market resulting in heavy losses for the mills. Rice prices shot up by just Rs 1.50 paise per kg in the last one month. Much before the ban was imposed on exports, huge volumes of rice were sent out of India causing scarcity,” he added.

Multiple reasons were attributed to poor sale of rice in the market including growing preference among the public for millet and switching over to PDS rice instead of the branded ones due to distressing economic situations.

Millers say paddy varieties from Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka began to reduce gradually since last year and stopped completely now. But, the situation is likely to turn for the better with the start of harvest season.

“Paddy arrivals are expected to resume from later next month once harvest begins. Almost 50 per cent of paddy harvested in the Delta region is procured by the government to be supplied in PDS outlets, while the remaining are purchased by millers, apart from superior varieties sourced from neighbouring states. Even though arrivals have stopped, the millers managed the crisis so far with paddy kept in reserve. It was because of huge stocks, Tamil Nadu did not face any shortage in rice,” said KCM Duraisamy, vice president of Federation of Tamil Nadu Rice Mill Owners and Paddy-Rice Dealers Association.

There are more than 4,000 rice mills across Tamil Nadu with a majority of around 600 mills in Tiruvannamalai followed by over 200 in Tirupur and 100 in Erode district. They churn out more than 52,500 tonnes of rice on a daily basis. Millers buy paddy wholesale, and process them into rice to be sold after packing them in bags into different brands.

Millers say that their reserve of paddy has been exhausted and are desperately waiting for fresh arrivals. “Rice exports are primarily from other states and are done in small quantities from Tamil Nadu,” say millers.