Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe revealed yesterday that efforts to import red rice from India had failed due to its unavailability.

“We held discussions with the Indian High Commission and Indian suppliers to import red rice to address the shortage in the local market, but the attempt was unsuccessful as red rice is not available in India,” he told Parliament today (10 January)

The Minister also stated that red rice is currently unavailable in domestic mills, adding, “We are trying to manage the situation somehow.”

He blamed the shortage partly on the previous government’s free distribution of red rice before the Presidential election. “The free distribution aggravated the shortage,” he said.

Samarasinghe further highlighted the competing uses of rice, noting, “Rice is not just consumed as food; it is also used in the beer industry, poultry farms, ornamental fish feed, and for rice flour production.”