• Raids commence to crack down on anti-consumer trade practices
• Risk of unscrupulous traders during festive season

No shortage of essential goods or significant price increases are expected during the upcoming Sinhala and Tamil New Year festive season, with raids also having commenced to crack down on anti-consumer trade practices, the Ministry of Trade, Commerce, Food Security, and Cooperative Development reveals. 

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Deputy Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security, and Cooperative Development R.M. Jayawardana said that a certain increase in prices of essential goods was understandable due to the spike in shipping, transport, and insurance costs. 

However, he noted that price increases for certain items had exceeded reasonable levels, adding that the ministry was currently studying the reasons behind these movements.

“Wholesale traders of essential items such as rice, flour, and sugar have indicated that there has not been a drastic increase in prices and that they will be able to continue supplying these items at current wholesale rates during the festive season. The price increases appear to be occurring at the distribution level,” Jayawardana stated.

Accordingly, he revealed that raids had commenced on 20 March to identify whether distributors of essential goods were selling items with mark-ups beyond reasonable limits.

“Under the leadership of the respective district secretaries, teams comprising officers of the Consumer Affairs Authority in each district will be carrying out raids from 20 March until the end of the festive season,” he added.

Commenting on the rationale behind these raids, he noted that during festive seasons, particularly when there were concerns about shortages, there was a risk of unscrupulous traders engaging in practices such as excessive price increases, selling expired or substandard goods, and hoarding items to create artificial shortages. He stated that these enforcement actions were intended to prevent such activities.

The Deputy Minister further revealed that in order to mitigate the impact of price increases and potential shortages, the Government, through the National Cooperative Wholesale Establishment, had taken steps to import and distribute essential goods such as rice, dhal, and sugar. 

In addition, approximately 600 essential items are being offered at discounts of 30–40% across over 430 outlets islandwide.

Jayawardana further revealed that the Government had also observed attempts by certain large-scale rice mill owners to create an artificial shortage of rice. 

To address this, tenders have been called from millers to process over 50,000 MT of paddy purchased by the Government during the last season, enabling the supply of rice to the market during the festive period to offset potential shortages.

The Deputy Minister expressed confidence that these measures would prevent any significant shortage of essential goods during the festive season, with the exception of items such as sprats and dried fish, which were largely imported from the Middle East. He noted that efforts were underway to source these items from alternative markets as well.