With fresh paddy arrivals in Red Hills, rice prices will stabilize soon: Tamil Nadu Food Minister

Food Minister P Venkataramanan interacting with millers along with Revenue Minister KA Sengottaiyan at Red Hills, Chennai | Photo credit: Special arrangement

Tamil Nadu Food Minister P. Venkataramanan on Wednesday (Oct 28, 2026) said that with the arrival of super fine varieties of paddy rice from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, rice prices in the state would stabilize soon.

Speaking to reporters after inspecting truck arrivals and interacting with millers along with Revenue Minister KA Sengottaiyan at Red Hills, Chennai, he said prices of super fine and fine varieties will come down further from December when trucks carrying paddy are likely to start arriving from Karnataka.

There is a rice and paddy market in Red Hills and for the past three days, at least 170-190 trucks, each carrying 10 tonnes, have unloaded their paddy for traders to buy and then mill it to remove the husks.

According to D. Thulasingam and AC Mohan of the Tamil Nadu Rice Mill Owners’ Federation and the Paddy Rice Dealers’ Association, millers were ensuring that enough paddy reached the Red Hills to keep prices of the staple commodity in check. “Due to lack of rains and water, Karnataka farmers had a poor harvest last year. This time they have better prospects and hence we hope that December will bring more rice from the state,” said Thulasingam.

Tiruvallur District Collector S. Kavitha, who was present for the inspection, said there were no restrictions on trucks bringing rice from other states. Truckers and millers were looking for a parking area for vehicles waiting to be unloaded.

Every year, 35 thousand tonnes of fine and super fine varieties are brought to Tamil Nadu from other states including West Bengal, Odisha, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The best varieties include BPT Ponni, Sona Masoori and RNR.

Published – 29 Oct 2026 13:08 IST