The Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) has confirmed that no farmers have sold their paddy stocks to government warehouses so far, highlighting the growing challenges in competing with large-scale rice mill owners.
Speaking at a media conference in Colombo, PMB Chairman Manjula Pinkanda admitted that the government’s paddy purchasing system remains weak and under-resourced, making it difficult to compete with dominant private rice traders.
“The Paddy Marketing Board has been a restricted institution for years, operating with very minimal resources. We cannot go up against the large-scale rice traders who dictate the market,” Pinkanda stated.
The situation underscores the power imbalance in Sri Lanka’s rice market, where large private mill owners continue to dominate paddy procurement, leaving government efforts sidelined. As a result, farmers are choosing to sell directly to private buyers, further weakening the government’s ability to regulate paddy prices and stabilize the rice market.
