Sri Lanka’s 30,000-Ton Paddy-to-Rice Plan（Sep 17）
Sri Lankan Government to Process 30,000 Tons of Paddy into Rice for Market Release
Sri Lanka's Newsline reported on August 11 that the government will process 30,000 metric tons of paddy held by the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB) into rice and release it to the market to support the government's paddy procurement program.
The decision was made based on recommendations put forward at the 34th Food Policy and Security Committee meeting held on July 22, 2026. Under a cabinet-approved proposal jointly submitted by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands, and Irrigation and the Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security, and Cooperative Development, the Cooperative Wholesale Establishment (CWE) will oversee the conversion of paddy into rice.
CWE will call for expressions of interest from rice mill owners registered with the PMB to process the 30,000 metric tons of paddy and supply rice in 5 kg, 10 kg, 25 kg, and 50 kg packaging formats.
The government will also establish a pricing committee composed of officials from the Paddy Marketing Board, the Cooperative Wholesale Establishment, the state-owned retail chain Lanka Sathosa, the National Institute of Postharvest Management, and the Hector Kobbekaduwa Agrarian Research and Training Institute. The committee will be responsible for determining the conversion rate of paddy to rice and formulating relevant pricing mechanisms.
