Sugar market has become unstable again in the capital due to a supply crunch at the wholesale level and lack of proper government monitoring, said the traders.
Although the commerce minister had been frequently saying since the beginning of Ramadan that the market was being properly monitored and supply of sugar was adequate, many retailers at different points of the city were found on Thursday selling sugar at a price higher than the government-set one.
Some retailers claimed they had run out of sugar and had no inclination to procure the essential sweetener from Moulvibazar as the wholesalers there were charging a price even higher than the retail one.
Retailers at Azimpur, Kathalbagan and Mohmmadpur markets were found selling sugar at Tk 70 per kilogram on Thursday.
Abul Kasem, a shopkeeper at Azimpur, who was selling sugar at Tk 70 a kilo, claimed the government-set price existed only in the media and the speeches of government authorities but not in the market.
Kasem produced an invoice which showed that a sack of containing 50 kilograms of sugar cost Tk 3,220 at Tk 64.4 per kg at Shamim Store in Babu Bazar on August 11.
'In spite of the fear of mobile courts, I have to sell sugar at a higher price considering customers' demand,' he claimed.
Nazrul Islam, a shopkeeper at Kathalbagan, claimed he had to sell sugar at Tk 70 per kg to ensure minimum profit as he had procured sugar at Tk 67 per kg from the wholesalers.
He said, 'Mobile courts fine us for selling sugar at higher price but we are not responsible for the price hike.'
Many shopkeepers at Palashi Bazar claimed they had no loose sugar in stock and were found selling packaged sugar only at Tk 65 per kg.
Babu at Palashi Bazar said he did not go to procure sugar on the day as he had heard that the wholesalers at Moulvibazar were charging Tk 66 per kg.
Another retailer claimed sugar wholesalers had asked for Tk 67.6 per kg from him.
Retailers at Hatirpul and Karwan Bazar claimed they were selling sugar at the government-set price of Tk 65 per kg.
The retailers asked the government not to harass them for selling sugar at a higher price but monitor the wholesalers, who were charging higher prices, instead.
Aminul Hauque Amin, a sugar distributor at Karwan Bazar, claimed the refiners had drastically cut the supply of sugar from that in early days of Ramadan.
Amin said some of the wholesalers might charge higher prices as the current sugar supply was not adequate to meet the increased demand in Ramadan.
He also observed that the retailers at the large markets in the city, like Karwan Bazar, were compelled to sell sugar at the government-set price as the mobile courts kept a sharp vigil on those markets but the grocers outside the markets were charging higher prices as they were not monitored by the courts.
Bangladesh Chini Babosayee Samity vice president Md Abul Hashem said sugar supply to Moulvibazar wholesale market had dwindled to half of that in the early Ramadan.
Abul Hashem admitted that some wholesalers might charge prices higher than the government-set rate at Moulvibazar but the association was not responsible for that as the mobile courts were supposed to monitor that.
He also said, if sugar price was to be kept stable, its adequate supply must be ensured.
Source : New Age
No comments:
Post a Comment