The state-owned trading house Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB)’s move to sell daily essentials before Ramadan for keeping the market under control has failed for various reasons, including 'overpricing' in some cases.
TCB officials, however, denied it adding that their commodities are of high quality and the prices of same quality essentials in the markets are more than TCB's.
They said a person can buy maximum 4 kilograms (kg) of sugar (local), 4 kgs of lentil, 5 litres of soybean oil, 5 kgs of grams and one kg of date from TCB trucks, dealers or its sales centres.
Each litre of soybean oil, they said, is selling at Tk 85 while Tk 55 is fixed for each kg of sugar, Tk 55 for lentil, Tk 70 for gram and Tk 120 for each kg of date, as per UNB report.
Although TCB earlier had assured that the essentials could be available at 10 TCB sales centres, 2,784 dealers and 184 truck-mounted sale stations across the country, but many dealers reportedly showed unwillingness to receive their allocated commodities due to higher prices compared to the existing market rate.
Besides, consumers are also reluctant to buy TCB's essential commodities due to the high prices.
The TCB began selling the five daily essentials -- soybean oil, sugar, red lentil, grams, and dates- on May 6 across the country for the convenience of people ahead of the holy month of Ramadan.