Loan scheme to promote rice flour industry

Manufacturing of rice flour for the bakery industry will commence within the next two months with financial support from two state banks under a special development loan scheme implemented by the Central Bank.

Rice flour bread being made

According to a senior official of the Central Bank two investors have already been selected to grant loans amounting to Rs. 42 million to start the rice flour industry in the country. They have visited China to examine the State-of-the-art machinery before purchasing them. The loans will be granted at a concessional interest rate of 10% per annum to purchase the machinery and plants with a longer repayment period of eight years. According to the official investors will be eligible for short term loans at 12% per annum to purchase paddy directly from farmers under forward sales agreements.

The rice flour will be supplied to bakery owners to produce rice flour based bakery products. According to food scientists rice flour based products are nutritious than wheat flour based products. The country spends around $900 million per annum to import wheat flour from USA, Brazil and other countries.

The main staple food of Asians is rice and rice flour based food items. With the commencement of paddy cultivation in the North and the East it is expected that paddy production will be more than the required amount the country needs within the next 2-5 years. Under such an environment it is essential to introduce rice flour based bakery products including rice flour bread to the market to utilize the excess production in rice. Over a period we have gradually transformed to a bread eating nation disregarding the value of rice and rice based products. However, with the increase in various food related diseases majority of the people have understood the advantages of consuming rice and rice based products. Once the rice flour industry starts people will be in a position to use rice flour bread and many other rice based food items. SG