Jumbangla Desk: Despite the formation of task force across the country for market supervision, the prices of daily commodities cannot be reduced. The prices of eggs and broiler chickens have increased after the formation of this task force at every district level of the country last Monday. Apart from this, flour, onion, soybean oil, palm oil and beef have been added to the list of new price increases. And the vegetable market is on fire. All in all, consumers are uncomfortable. Low income people are the most affected.
This information has been highlighted in the report by Munna Raihan published in today's issue of national daily Ittefaq.
Quoting market officials, the report said that the government has already reduced the duty on some products to reduce the price of products. Another initiative has been taken to reduce the duty of some. Besides, raids are being conducted in the market almost every day. But consumers are not getting the benefits.
Those concerned said that the syndicate is still working in the market. Because of this syndicate, the market system is helpless.
On Friday, it was found that in the new markets of Kawran Bazar, Shantinagar and Turag areas of the capital, in the last five days, the price of a packet of flour has increased by Tk 5 to Tk 65 to Tk 75, domestic onion has gone up by Tk 5 to Tk 10 to Tk 110 to Tk 120 and imported onion has gone up Tk 10. Selling for 100 to 110 taka. Besides, five liter bottled soybean oil has increased by Tk 20 to Tk 800 to Tk 810 and open palm oil has increased Tk 3 to Tk 7 and is being sold at Tk 144 to Tk 145. A kg of beef increased by Tk 30 to Tk 50 and was sold at Tk 750 to Tk 800. And the prices of eggs and broiler chickens, which are already increasing, have increased further.
Among them, the farm's brown eggs have increased by two takas to 60 takas and broiler chickens have increased by taka 10 per kg and are being sold at takas 190 to 200. The government's marketing agency Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has also reported the increase in the prices of these products in yesterday's market price report. However, after the interim government took over, Bangladesh Bank adopted a policy of reducing the supply of money in the market to control inflation.
Besides, the regulatory duty on raw and refined sugar has been reduced from 30 percent to 15 percent last month. This will reduce the import duty on raw sugar by Tk 11.18 and refined sugar by Tk 14.26 per kg. Onion duty has also been reduced. However, data from the National Board of Revenue (NBR) says that the import of soybean oil, palm oil and onion has decreased in the first three months of the current financial year 2024-25 compared to the same period last year. In the last three months of the current financial year, 332,000 tonnes of palm oil has been imported, which is 17 percent less than the same period last year. During this period, the import of unrefined sugar was 2 lakh 39 thousand tons, which is 51 percent less than the same period of last financial year. কমেছে পেঁয়াজের আমদানিও। 1 lakh 55 thousand tons of onions have been imported in the last three months. গত বছর একই সময়ে আমদানি হয়েছিল সাড়ে ৩ লাখ টন।
Market participants said the government should look into the matter as to why the import of the products has decreased. Otherwise it will be difficult to control the prices of products. Already the prices of these products have started increasing.
Regarding the start of the work of the task force formed to stabilize the commodity market, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Bogra Sarbik Mazbaul Karim said that the market monitoring committee has been formed on Thursday. The committee has already held discussions with various stakeholders. In particular, work has been started to control the price of eggs in the market. Besides, the upazila executive officer has been instructed to monitor the market at the upazila level. Earlier last week, Finance and Trade Advisor Salehuddin Ahmed told reporters after the meeting of the Advisory Committee on Government Procurement at the Secretariat that the government is working to control inflation. দাম কমতে একটু সময় লাগবে।
High price of vegetables
The price of vegetables has made the consumers suffer in the market. Except for one or two vegetables, the price of most vegetables is above 100 rupees. In this situation, buyers and sellers grumbling while buying vegetables has become a daily occurrence. Yesterday, in the capital's retail market, the price of different types of vegetables was 100 to 140 Tk. Eggplant, 120 to 130 Tk. It is being sold at the rate of Tk 120 per kg. Among the vegetables, the price of papaya is relatively low. It is being sold at 40 to 50 taka per kg. But the price of green chillies overshadowed everything. Raw chillies are being sold at Tk 400 to Tk 450 per kg in the retail market.
Hamidur, a vegetable seller in Shantinagar market yesterday, said that the supply of vegetables in the market is low as many vegetable fields have been destroyed due to rains across the country. However, the supply of winter vegetables will increase in the market within the next one month. Then the price will come down.
