[ALOCHONA] Scorching prices

Scorching prices

Khamin visits the kitchen markets and shops during the first few days of ramadan and writes about the woes facing customers

 

 

It is now a tradition that during every first week of Ramadan, the general public will face an increase in prices of daily consumption commodities, like Chhola (chickpeas), lentil, oil, powder milk, sugar, green chili and aubergine. Artificial crisis of these goods in the market, created by profiteering businessmen during this time of every year, increases the prices of these essentials, leading to severe problems for people with limited incomes.

   Despite repeated pledges and promises, every single government initiative has failed over the years to control price hikes. People from the middle and fixed income groups, however, believe that the failure is due to the lack of fair political motive and if the government really has the intention to control the commodities' prices in the market, it can still do so.

   'Is the government really looking into our comfort during Ramadan?' asks Nurul Hasan, a resident of Indira road in Farmgate. 'Rather, the government has provoked businessmen into selling at a higher price than usual,' he adds.

   Nurul was referring to the government's fixing the maximum price of each kilogramof unpacked soybean oil at the mill gate at Tk 76 and in the retail market, at Tk 80 at best, on August 5. Prior to this, the price of unpacked oil was from Tk 72 to 73. The price naturally jumped by three takas after the government declaration.

   The price of each kilogramof unpacked super palm oil was Tk 72 and normal palm oil, Tk 69 at the mill gate. The government declared the price of these at Tk 76 and Tk 73, respectively.

   However, despite the price fixing, this Xtra correspondent found the prices of oil varying in four different markets. Unpacked super palm oil price is Tk 77 in Shewrapara bazaar and Tk 82 in Kazipara bazaar. Market prices of unpacked oil differ between the markets in Kazipara and Shewrapara, which are separated by a distance of only five minutes walking.

   'Just five days ago, before Ramadan, the price of the same oil was between Tk 70 and 72,' says Rezaul Hoque, a resident of Shewrapara.

   The price of rice, milk, aubergine, green chili and others, vary despite the negligible distance from one market to the other. While the prices of these products are at a wholesale rate and therefore, low in Karwanbazar, the prices of the same products are higher in the markets of Farmgate and Hatirpul.

   The trend is similar in case of departmental stores also. A 400-gram powder milk brand is Tk 195 at Marjia General Store while the same milk brand of equal size is being sold at Tk 160 at Dipti General Store, just two shops down the line to the former, at Farmgate. Besides this, five litres of a well-known Soybean oil brand varies from Tk 470 to 480 while good quality chickpeas' price fluctuates from Tk 52 to 55 per kilogramme. There is also a worse quality of chickpeas, consumed by the lower income group, currently selling between Tk 40 to 44 per kilogram.

   'The price of mutton is Tk 390 per kg now when it was between Tk 350 and 360 before Ramadan,' says Kamrunnesa, a resident of Geneva Camp, in the Mohammadpur kitchen market on August 13. 'It's tough to find anything within our affordability in the markets during Ramadan as prices of almost all essentials have increased within the past four to five days. The traders do not seem to have the slightest consideration for people like us who are fixed earners,' she adds.

   Two days before, on August 11, Salim Ullah bought a kilogramof beef at Tk 260 and chicken at Tk 150 per kilogramfrom Mohammadpur Town Hall bazaar. 'Only on the day before yesterday, beef was being sold at around Tk 245 to 250 per kilogram while chicken varied between Tk 130 to 140,' he says.

   'I am suffering as I had planned to do my grocery shopping a day before Ramadan, as I felt, the prices would be at an affordable level with the government planning to fix them then,' he laments.

   The price of green chilli is fluctuating the most. On the day before Ramadan, the price was Tk 160 per kilogram and Tk 180 on the first day of Ramadan. The price dropped to Tk 120 per kilogram the day after.

   Aubergine's price is seeing a similar trend, leading to increased difficulties for customers. On August 14, the price of aubergine was Tk 30 per kg in Karwanbazar. However, in Hatirpul bazaar the price of the same aubergine was Tk 60 per kg. In markets of Kazipara and Shewarapara, the price was between Tk 60 and 70 while in Palashi bazaar, the price of chili and aubergine was Tk 160 and 70 per kg respectively, on the day.

   Despite the bumper production of rice across the country this year, the price of rice has doubled before Ramadan. Aromatic rice varieties like Najirshail, Chinigura and Basmati is already out of the reach of the middle class. On the other hand, the prices of rice consumed by lower income groups are also on the rise.

   There is absolutely no variety of rice priced at less than Tk 33 per kg in the stores of Dhaka. 'Although we can buy rice at Tk 28 per kg from the government trucks, which is a fair price, the lack of shops offering fair prices in the rural areas is leading to increased suffering for residents in these areas,' says Mahibullah, a tea stall owner at the Dhaka University (DU) campus.

   However, wholesale traders are not anxious about price hikes as they feel that the market has adequate rice stocks to ensure a steady supply. 'As there is a sufficient rice stock to meet the consumer needs during Ramadan, hopefully there will be no increase in prices during this time,' says Abdullah Baki, a wholesaler at Babu Bazaar in old Dhaka.

   However, rice sellers in different parts of Dhaka complain to this Xtra correspondent, that the wholesalers are actually increasing the rice prices. 'Wholesalers are also the culprits behind the increase in prices of oil, sugar and other items,' says Nuru Mia, a shopkeeper at Shewrapar in Mirpur.

   'Being small sellers, we cannot buy in bulk and eventually we are not provided with good bargains as opposed to sellers who buy in bulk, availing a discount of one to two takas per kg. I know most of the people in my area and personally, I don't like it when they suffer by paying through their teeth for food and essentials during Ramadan,' Nuru says.

   'I still do not know why the government is not taking proper steps to identify these wholesalers and stopping the hike in prices. Selling rice at a fair price from trucks is not the solution,' he adds.

   The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) officials feel that the government should conduct drives against such traders making unnatural profits, during Ramadan. 'We are not the authority for market monitoring,' says Khalilur Rahman, the chairman of TCB, when asked whether they are monitoring market prices. 'We are just trading essential commodities and ensuring proper prices. To ensure that the price is at a tolerable level, we have assigned around 1,900 dealers across Bangladesh,' he adds.

   'The government's commerce ministry is supposed to monitor the market. Hence, actions like seizing stocks, cancelling their trade licenses and so on, against such traders are also to be conducted by the ministry,' he mentions.

   General customers observe that the lack of effective market price monitoring and the presence of middlemen in the supply chain are largely responsible for the price hike. Stock piling and hoarding are also said to be among the major causes.

   The TCB authorities assure that they have adequate stocks of sugar, oil and lentils in the TCB stores for the next one month. They are also confident that the consumers will not be affected at all as they have stocked twice the essentials than last year and as TCB is already functioning in the market with private traders.

   Currently TCB has 20 thousand metric tonnes of lentil, 10 thousands metric tonnes sugar, chickpeas and adequate oil supply to seemingly address the price hike. However, the customers at the markets beg to differ.

 

http://www.newagebd.com/2010/aug/20/aug20/xtra_inner3.html

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