KUALA LUMPUR (June 12): Padiberas Nasional Bhd (Bernas) is hoping to be the single gatekeeper to fulfil its social obligations after the government announced that Bernas's monopoly to import rice has been terminated.

Bernas chief executive officer Ismail Mohamed Yusoff said there is always a need for a single gatekeeper and the role cannot be opened up for other players.

"What will the local paddy farmers sell if other (players) import a lot of rice? That's the role of a single gatekeeper, you don't want to look (feel sad) at the paddy farmers who cannot sell their paddy," he told reporters after meeting with the Council of Eminent Persons today.

According to its website, Bernas continued to fulfil its obligations under a privatisation agreement signed with the government in 1996.

"These obligations include maintenance of the nation's rice stockpile, acting as the buyer of last resort for paddy farmers, managing the Bumiputera Rice Millers Scheme and the distribution of paddy price subsidies to farmers on behalf of the government," it said.

Ismail said as of now there are about 150,000 paddy farmers in Malaysia and Bernas has always been supporting them.

"I think paddy is the only commodity in the country that we guarantee [is] going to stay. That means when the farmers produce diseased paddy, we will always buy from them (to support them). This is the social obligations the government need to take into the account.

"Now, everyone is talking about wanting the right to import but no one [is] talking about wanting to buy diseased paddy, to take care [of] the stockpile, the subsidy and helping millers to look for their funding. But we are doing all those things for them (the paddy farmers)," he said.

He highlighted that those are all the social obligations which no one talks about but everyone wants the monopoly.

"We are a cross subsidy entity; we take the profit from sale of (imported rice) and we subsidise local rice.

"We only have 28 mills as compared to 180 mills in Malaysia so that's not monopoly. We are talking about sole import of rice to subsidise the social obligations that we have," he explained.

Ismail assured that the country never faced any difficulty in getting rice and had no issues about it, but only for the shortage in other foods, which he declined to elaborate.

"So, I feel that the current system works and it should be maintained; and if the government wants to break up the monopoly, we will work with them and see what's best for the nation and the rakyat. That is more critical.

"When you are talking about rice you are talking about physicality," he added.

Currently, for white rice, Bernas imports about 600,000 metric tonnes to 650,000 metric tonnes per year and the stockpile stands at 150,000 metric tonnes per year.

"For imported rice, we are still okay because we have the local production of paddy in Kedah, Selangor and Kelantan. So throughout the year there is paddy being harvested, so that's why we (Bernas) feel the 150,000-metric-tonne stockpile is good enough and are comfortable with that level.

"If we don't have the local production of paddy, then that could be a problem and it's up to the government to decide whether food security is the main item or commercial issue," he said.

Meanwhile, in terms of paddy, the country produces about 2 million metric tonnes per annum and the recovery to get rice is up 65%.

"At the moment it (imported rice) ranges between 700,000 metric tonnes to 800,000 metric tonnes per annum, depending on the local output," he added.

Bernas, the country's sole rice importer, was listed on the local bourse before it was taken private by businessman Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary in April 2014.

During that time, the privatisation was met with strong criticism amid concerns that Syed Mokhtar, who already owned many strategic assets, for instance, ports and power plants, would monopolise the import of rice.

Bernas posted a pre-tax profit of RM133.39 million for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2016 (FY16), on revenue of RM4.34 billion. Compared with FY15, Bernas' pre-tax profit in FY16 grew 2.6% from RM130.05 million, while revenue rose 2.8% from RM4.23 billion.

Bernas is involved in the procurement and processing of paddy, importation, warehousing, distribution and marketing of rice in Malaysia, seed and farming activities, international rice joint ventures, as well as rice complementary businesses.