1.   But the custom had lost its meaning because there were so few private traders left, and company managers are faceless men, here today and gone tomorrow.

2.   Currently, background checks are performed on those buying guns from federally licensed dealers, but private traders are not screened.

3.   Many private traders are bullish as well.

4.   The pressure to support the regime, or at least keep quiet, affects many small private traders whose business depends on the support of state-run firms.

5.   The trouble is, the government cannot flood the market with enough imported rice to offset the upward price spiral of domestic rice sold by private traders.

6.   Pradhan also said some private traders had created an artificial scarcity of foodstuffs and sold them at a premium to the poor people.

7.   Private traders sometimes cross, too.

8.   At the same time, private traders complain that they are refused export permits.

9.   Baghdad shops brim with Egyptian products imported by private traders.

10.   He said private maize imports were slow to reach the reserves, and the government would be mistaken to rely solely on private traders to offset deficits.