The commerce ministry has reduced retail sugar prices by Tk 3 per kg and from April 8 packaged sugar will be sold at Tk 109 a kg and loose sugar at Tk 104 a kg.

The ministry shared the information through a notification today.

The announcement came over two weeks after the commerce ministry asked the refiners to cut sugar prices in line with the reduction of import duty for raw and refined sugar by the National Board of Revenue.

On February 26, the customs authority withdrew Tk 3,000 specific duty on the import of a tonne of raw sugar and Tk 6,000 on refined sugar with immediate effect.

It also cut the regulatory duty to 25 per cent from 30 per cent.

The commerce ministry said it adjusted the prices of the sweetener according to the decisions taken in the taskforce meeting on March 19 and requests made by the refiners on March 27.

The prices have been set considering the impact of the import duty cut and the upward global rates of sugar, an official of the commerce ministry said.

The government had fixed the rates of loose and packaged sugar at Tk 107 and Tk 112 respectively on February 1.

Today, traders in Dhaka's markets sold sugar at Tk 112-Tk 115 per kilogram which was marginally higher from a week ago, according to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.