May 31, Colombo: Sri Lanka Ministry of Trade, Marketing Development, Co-operatives and Consumer Affairs will announce the June wholesale prices of ten essential food commodities tomorrow as the Ministry signs the agreement for the price formula tomorrow with the Association of Importers of Essential Food Items.

The Secretary to the Ministry R.M.K. Ratnayaka said that the prices of many food items would be similar to the prices of last month.

This is the third consecutive agreement signed by the government with the importers with the hope of reducing the cost of living. The government provides tax concessions to the importers to keep the prices down.

Some essential food items bear heavy import taxes imposed by the government to protect the local farmer. For instance, Rs.20 per kilo import tax is levied on big onion and potato while a Rs.12 per kilo import tax is levied on rice.