Essential Commodities: Govt move fails to stop price hike ahead of Ramadan

The government's promise of containing the prices of essentials ahead of Ramadan seems to be only on paper as the prices of key items instead rose over the last month.

According to the data from Trading Corporation of Bangladesh, the costs of chickpeas, lentils, onions, broiler chicken, and farm eggs saw a spike over the past month.

Meanwhile, though the commerce ministry's data showed that the imports of chickpeas, dates, soyabean oil, palm oil, pulses, and yellow peas increased, market insiders allege that a section of businesspeople have already stockpiled the commodities, taking advantage of the lax market monitoring, for higher profits.

They claimed this was the reason behind the prices of the essentials going up.

Amid such a situation, people from the low-and limited-income groups, who are already compromising their standard of living due to inflation, are in a tighter spot.

Arman Hossain, a job holder in the capital, said, "The prices of almost all the items have remained high for quite some time. If the situation doesn't change in the coming days, we'll will have no other option than to stop buying some essential items [for Ramadan]."

He said he has been in a constant battle to balance all the expenses of a three-member family.

"My income has not increased in the last two years at the pace at which the prices of daily necessities are rising."

He said the price of local varieties of onions is now Tk 120 a kg, up from Tk 70-80 a month ago.

"So, I bought one kg instead of two."

The price of broiler chicken was Tk 180-185 per kg a month ago and it is now being sold for Tk 200-210.

"So, I didn't buy chicken."

During a visit to the capital's Mirpur-1 and Kawran Bazar kitchen markets, this correspondent found the prices of lentils, rice, fish, meat, eggs, edible oil and flour still considerably high.

The price of lentils, which was Tk 130 per kg a month ago, was now Tk 140, while chickpeas cost Tk 110 a kg, up from last month's Tk 95.

Monwar Hossain, owner of Yasin General Store in Karwan Bazar, one of the largest kitchen markets in Dhaka, said although the media reported that the import of Ramadan products increased recently, the prices of these items at the wholesale level are still high.

"This means that some traders in the supply chain are hiking the prices to make profits. The government needs to look into this.

"We are selling products at high prices because we are purchasing these at high prices," he said.

Though the prices of winter vegetables drop every February, the situation was the opposite this year.

According to a report of the Department of Agricultural Marketing, the prices of 10 vegetables were higher on February 20 compared to the same day last year. The rise ranges from 14.29 percent to 207.14 percent.

The price of green papaya went up by 55 percent, sweet pumpkin by 15 percent, tomato by 15 percent, cabbage by 20 percent, and hybrid cucumber by 62 percent over the last year.

The department made the report after compiling data from four kitchen markets -- Karwan Bazar, Mohammadpur's Town Hall Bazar, Mirpur-1 and New Market Banalata Bazar -- in Dhaka.

Speaking at an event yesterday, State Minister for Commerce Ahsanul Islam Titu said the authorities concerned were working to fix the prices of imported goods at the consumer level.

"If anyone makes the market unstable by hoarding, action will be taken against them," he said, adding that regulators need to increase their vigilance so that prices of products in the market are contained.

Badrunnesa Ahmed, research fellow at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, at the same event said prices were rising due to poor market management and middlemen.

She also blamed high transportation costs, extortion on roads, and commissions from production centres to sales centres for the abnormal hike.

"The price hike of essentials has reduced the purchasing capacity of the fixed-and low-income groups, while it increased the cost of living. At the same time, the price hike forced a section of people to go below the poverty line."