The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, on Sunday express her concerns about the sudden supply shortage and increase in prices of sugar and cooking oil and asked the businesspeople to ensure sales of essential at prices set by the government.
Hasina expressed her concerns about the scarcity of sugar in city markets and increase in prices of other essential commodities before Ramadan as she held a meeting with business leaders at her official residence, Ganabhaban.
She told the businessmen not to force the government to take any stern action to control the prices.
Sugar and soya bean oil 'run out' in most retail shops in the capital on Thursday, a day after the commerce ministry revised the soya bean oil price and set the prices for palm oil and sugar.
The ministry set soya bean oil price at Tk 109 a litre, of palm oil at Tk 99 a litre and of sugar at Tk 65 a kilogram which came into force on Wednesday.
The price of sugar, available with some shops, shot up to Tk 75 a kilogram and of soya bean oil to Tk 130 a liitre.
The commerce minister, Mohammad Faruk Khan, who attended the meeting, told New Age that the prime minister was unhappy and asked the business leaders why they were not keeping the words they earlier gave not to increase prices in Ramadan.
'The prime minister asked the businessmen not to force the government to take any stern action,' Faruk said.
He said that the businesspeople had tried to put the supply shortage down to distribution process.
As for sudden shortage of sugar in the capital, the millers told the prime minister that it was temporary as operations of four mills have been suspended for balancing, modernisation, rehabilitation and expansion resulting in a gap between the demand and the supply.
Adverse weather, general strikes and the greed of some businesspeople caused the supply shortage of sugar and cooking oil, they told the meeting, which continued from 5:30pm to 7:00pm.
Nearly 40 business leaders, including representatives of oil, sugar and rice mills, and wholesalers, among others, attended the meeting.
Leader of the Moulvibazar businessmen's association Golam Mowla said, 'We have assured the
prime minister of selling commodities for prices set by the government. There will be no shortage of commodities.'
He said that the shortage of the commodities, which is prevalent only in Dhaka, was because of the problems with the supply chain.
Mill owners and wholesalers of Moulvibazar in Dhaka at a meeting with the Tariff Commission, meanwhile, said that a kilogram of sugar would be sold for Tk 65 as set by the government.
Golam Mowla, a leader of the largest sugar wholesale market in Dhaka, held mill owners responsible for the shortage of the commodity.
The Deshbandhu Sugar Mills chairman, Mostafa Kamal, however, gave an assurance that it would increase the supply.
After the meeting, the Tariff Commission chief, Mohammad Mojibur Rahman, said, 'Sugar will be available for Tk 65 a kilogram on the retail market.'
He said that the supply of sugar was not in keeping with the demand in Dhaka but the supply was more than the demand in the districts.
Traders said the demand for sugar in Dhaka accounts for a fourth of the country's total demand for 4,000 tonnes a day.
Source : New Age
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