The prices of all spices have shot up in the capital, with clove posting the highest price hike of Tk 1,000 per kilogram over the past one month on both retail and wholesale markets ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr.
Traders attributed the spice price spiral to a rise in their global prices as the country is almost completely dependent on import for meeting its demand for spices.
They also blamed the private clearing report finding companies for the price hike of spices as the CRF companies were citing the prices of imported spices at more than that on the international market.
On Monday, clove was being sold at Tk 2,000 per kg, compared to Tk 1,000 in July.
Mace was being sold on the day at Tk 3,400 per kg, marking a price hike of Tk 400 over the past month and of Tk 800 over the past three months.
On Monday, the price of nutmeg stood at Tk 1,100 per kg, up by around Tk 200 over the past month, that of cumin seed at Tk 480 per kg, marking a rise of Tk 100, and cinnamon at Tk 220 per kg, up by Tk 30.
The price of black pepper stood at Tk 800 per kg, up by Tk 200, and that of cardamom at Tk 2,500 per kg, posting a rise of Tk 300 over the past month.
According to traders, the demand for spices that remains at a nominal level round the year skyrockets in Ramadan, which is one of the reasons for the exorbitant price hike.
They claimed a global crisis of some spices caused by damage of crops by natural calamities in some countries was another key factor that pushed the prices so high.
Importers said they failed to procure the quantity of clove they had wanted to from Madagascar, the top source of clove for Bangladesh, as the clove plantations there were heavily damaged in the heavy rainfall in March-April this year.
They also claimed to have failed to source adequate quantity of clove from Indonesia, another major clove-exporting country, as the crop there had also been damaged by a pest attack.
They said there was a huge supply shortfall of the spice on the international market, forcing many of the importers to cancel the letters of credit opened for importing clove.
A wholesaler at Moulvibazar said the supply dearth of clove was created as many of the importers had suspended its procurement process finding the latest global price of the spice standing at $5,200 per tonne, registering an increase of $1,200 over the past few months.
According to the association of spice wholesalers, the supply of clove on the domestic market has decreased by around 50 per cent against the annual demand for the spice standing at around 1,000 tonnes.
The association's president, Mohammad Enayetullah, admitted that the price of clove had increased because of the global production shortfall.
Sagir Ahmed, an importer at Khatunganj in Chittagong, said the price of spices increased a lot on the global market as the production had decreased in the producing countries due to natural calamities including draught.
The retailers in the capital, however, were found selling spices at around Tk 100 to Tk 200 more than the wholesale prices on Monday.
Abul Kalam, a retailer at Moulvibazar, admitted that they were charging higher prices for spices to compensate for the losses incurred in retailing the spices at very small quantities.
A number of shoppers at Karwan Bazar alleged the traders could increase the spice prices without any reason in the absence of proper market monitoring by the government.
Source : New Age
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