Govt move to rein in market falls flat

The government's initiatives to rein in commodity prices, especially of sugar and cooking oil in the month of Ramadan, appear to have fallen flat.

Sugar market was still unstable on Tuesday with retailers in Dhaka and many other places attributing the crisis to supply shortage at the rates set by the government.  Sugar was selling at around Tk 70 a kilogram while cooking oil at Tk 120 to Tk123 a litre at retailers' level, consumers in the city said.

When approached, commerce minister Muhammad Faruk Khan told New Age that he found no reasons why sugar should be sold at more than Tk65 a kg since the supply was 'adequate'.

He, however, said teams were formed in both district and upazila levels to monitor the commodity prices.

Fazlur Rahman,  chairman of City Group, leading private sector refiners of edible  oil and sugar, told a commerce ministry meeting at the secretariat last week that the situation would return to normal in three-four days.

'There is a gap between demand and supply in some areas but we have adequate stocks of sugar,' he said assuring the government that sugar would be available at Tk65 a kilogram. 

Fazlur Rahman said that his company was retailing sugar at Tk65 a kg on trucks at five points in the city. 

Prices of almost all essential commodities, including sugar, cooking oil, gram and onion, shot up on the advent of Ramadan although businessmen had assured the government that the prices would remain stable during the month of fasting for the Muslims. Price of gram went up to Tk90 a kg from Tk65, price of onion increased to Tk40 a kg from TK33 and potato jumped to Tk18 from Tk14 a kg just before Ramadan began on August 2.

The commerce ministry on August 4 asked all millers to ensure sale of cooking oil and sugar only through distributors to check price hike during Ramadan.

It also directed all retailers and distributors to display price lists of sugar and cooking oil at every outlet as the market remained unstable. But most shopkeepers have ignored the directives.

Deputy commissioner of Dhaka Md Mohibul Haque told New Age that the district administration had enhanced monitoring of commodity markets to check price hike of the commodities, consumption of which increases during Ramadan. 'We have already got the list of dealers and sent them to upazila level to bring the dealers of the commodities under supervision,' he added.

President of Bangladesh Sugar Traders Association Anwar Habib said that there was no crisis of sugar. 'Some retailers might have created the problem to make more profit.'

The ministry earlier 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 July 20. The price of sugar shot up to Tk 75 a kilogram and of soya bean oil to Tk 130 a litre just before Ramadan as businessmen backed away from their promise to keep commodity prices stable during the month of fasting.

The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh on Thursday launched sale of sugar at Tk62 a kg on trucks at 10 points in the capital, which has hardly made any impact on the market. 

On July 24 the business community at a meeting with the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, said that there was no shortage of sugar and oil on the market and assured the government that the situation would return to normal within a few days as they had enough stocks.

Nearly 40 business leaders, including representatives of oil, sugar and rice millers and wholesalers, among others, attended the meeting at the prime minister's official residence, Ganabhaban.

About the sudden crisis of sugar in the city markets, the millers told the prime minister that the shortage was 'temporary' as operation of four mills had been suspended for balancing, modernisation, rehabilitation and expansion resulting in a gap between demand and supply.

The price of sugar in rural areas was well above the government-fixed Tk65 per kilogram and was selling at more than Tk 75 in many areas.   

Sugar was reportedly selling for prices up to Tk 75 per kg in retail markets of Chittagong, Khulna and Barisal cities while it was up to Tk 80 in the rural areas of those districts.

Consumers and consumer rights activists alleged that the government had no monitoring of the prices in the rural areas and the traders were taking the advantage for profiteering.

Retailers from different areas complained that wholesalers were selling sugar to them at rates higher than the government-fixed prices and were not giving them cash memo for buying the material.

Source : New Age