Price hike for four reasons: Top businesses assure PM of stable market in Ramadan

Leading businessmen yesterday assured Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that they would help keep stable the prices of basic commodities such as sugar and edible oil during the Ramadan.

The assurance came at an emergency meeting between the businessmen and the prime minister at the latter's official residence Gono Bhaban in the wake of an unusual price hike of sugar on the retail market.

Hasina asked them about the reasons behind the price spiral of sugar and other commodities despite their normal supply.

The businessmen gave four reasons behind the price spiral of sugar-- disruption to supply for closure of four sugar refineries, recent hartals, high prices of sugar on the international market and some unscrupulous traders' greed for profit.

"The meeting was fruitful. I hope things will be sorted out by tomorrow [today]. They [businessmen] assured the prime minister that they would anyhow keep the market stable and normal," said Commerce Minister Faruk Khan after the meeting.

Mostofa Azad Chowdhury Babu, acting president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said four of the six sugar refineries had been shut for few months for unavailability of imported raw sugar.

"It caused sugar prices to go up," he said.

Besides, hartals, panic purchase by consumers, traffic jam and the refiners' delay in appointing distributors across the country were also responsible for the sudden price hike, he said.

The good news is, he added, three of the four refineries--Deshbandhu, Meghna and S Alam Group--resumed production three days ago, and will start supplying sugar in the next two or three days, he said.

"We promised that we will sell the basic commodities at government-fixed rates, as their supply is improving gradually," said Babu, who led the business team.

Mostafa Kamal, managing director of Meghna Group of Industries, said sugar prices went up abnormally for panic purchase by customers and temporary shutdown of some sugar refineries.

He said his company will restart sugar sale to wholesalers today, borrowing it from other mills.

The government on July 20 fixed the mill gate price of sugar between Tk 58 and Tk 62 a kg, and Tk 63 a kg at the wholesale level and Tk 65 a kg at retail level. The price of edible oil was set at Tk 109 a litre at the retail level.

Source : The Daily Star