Dhaka, July 7, 2014 (New Age): A parliamentary panel on Sunday expressed satisfaction with the kitchen market price situation although prices of many essential commodities have increased up to 100 per cent since the beginning of Ramadan.
The parliamentary standing committee on ministry of commerce at a meeting at the parliament complex said that unlike in previous years, commodity prices had not gone up abnormally during Ramadan this year.
The meeting, with the committee president Ali Ashraf in the chair, discussed the price trends in kitchen markets.
‘Unlike in the past, prices of essential commodities have not recorded unusual rise during Ramadan this year, as several agencies are monitoring the market from the very beginning,’ Ali Ashraf told newsmen after the meeting.
He said the committee, however, stressed the need for strengthening further the market monitoring system.
The prices of most of the vegetables increased by 50 per cent to100 per cent on the retail market in the city on the eve of Ramadan.
When his attention was drawn to unusual hike of commodity prices, particularly vegetables like onion, brinjal and potato, Ali Ashraf replied,
‘The hike has not caused any stir on the market and that is why the committee members have expressed satisfaction.’
Committee members Waresat Hossain Belal, AKM Bahauddin, Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun, Md Sanwar Hossain and Manjurul Islam, among others, attended the meeting.
The committee has also asked the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh to ensure the quality of the commodities the TCB was marketing in the month of fasting for Muslims.
‘The quality of the commodities provided by the TCB does not match that of the products available on the market and that is why we have asked the TCB to supply quality products,’ said Ashraf.
Traders said that supply shortage caused by rains over the past week pushed up the prices of vegetables while consumers complained that traders were charging high for goods due to lack of government monitoring.
Despite a ban on export of green chilli, aubergine, cucumber, lemon and coriander leaves, the prices of the items almost doubled since the beginning of Ramadan.
Although the price of green chilli came down a little in last three days, aubergine was selling at Tk 90- Tk 100 a kg, cucumber at Tk 50 a kg, four pieces of lemon at Tk 25 and coriander leaves at Tk 250 a kg.
The prices of tomato and carrot shot up by 50 per cent and the items were selling at Tk 80 a kg and Tk 70 a kg on the city’s kitchen markets.
The prices of different kinds of fish increased by Tk 20-Tk 30 a kg in the city since the beginning of Ramadan.
The prices of onion and garlic went up by Tk 15-Tk 20 a kg and the items were retailing at Tk 45 a kg and Tk 100 a kg respectively.
Before Ramadan, onion was sold at Tk 25-Tk 30 a kg and garlic at Tk 80 a kg.
Traders said that the export price hike of onion to $500 a tonne from $300 a tonne by India had caused price rise of the item on the local market.
The Communist Party of Bangladesh and Socialist Party of Bangladesh at a rally in the city on Saturday urged the government to take steps to check price hike of essentials during Ramadan.
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