Teknaf: Burmese rice traders have been losing out on profits while exporting rice to Bangladesh as the price of rice has recently fallen in Bangladesh, said a rice trader in Burma.

"We made profits in the past while exporting rice to Bangladesh, but we are not making profits as we did earlier due to the rice price in Bangladesh falling," the trader said.

The price of rice has been going down by the day in Bangladesh following the transition of power to the new government in the first week of January.

"We sold one sack of rice to Bangladeshi businessmen for Taka 1,200  last week, but now we are having to sell a sack of rice in the Bangladesh border markets for Taka 800. We are suffering from low profits," the trader added.

Despite the falling price of rice in Bangladesh, rice in Burma is still being exported to Bangladesh through the Teknaf border point daily.

Businessman in Teknaf port said that at least 10,000 bags of Burmese rice are being exported to Bangladesh by Burmese rice merchants on a daily basis.

A clerk from the port told Narinjara over the telephone that four rice cargo ships were harboured in the port yesterday, and were collectively carrying 12,000 bags of rice to Bangladesh.

Rice merchants from Rangoon, Pathein, Mawlamyint, Sittwe, Taungup, Kyauk Pru, and other towns in Arakan State have been exporting rice to Bangladesh since the dry season started this year.

A ship owner from Sittwe said the rice business with Bangladesh is not very good, but rice is still being exported from Burma because the domestic rice price is also very low.

Last year, 100 baskets of paddy were only 250,000 kyat, while this year the same amount costs only 120,000 kyat in Arakan's rice markets. Many farmers are suffering in Arakan State as the prices have not gone up this year.

"We are all facing an economic crisis in Burma and we have no other alternative business here. So we have been involved in the rice exporting business to Bangladesh even though the profit in such trade is small," the rice trader added.