Wheat flour prices have increased notably this month, augmenting commoners' woes further as many of them rely on the commodity following higher prices of rice.
Most of the flour mills have raised maida (refined flour) and atta (coarse flour) by Tk 4.0-5.0 a kilo in the past 10 days.
Branded packet maida prices shot up to highest Tk 55 a kg at the retail level and high-quality atta to Tk 50.
On the other hand, loose atta rose to a maximum of Tk 40 a kg and packet atta to Tk 45.
Considering the last six months' rates, flour prices witnessed a 15-27 per cent hike here, according to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).
Traders and market experts say the leap in wheat prices globally has forced big bread and biscuit companies to raise prices of their products only to hurt the poor.
Olympic Industries Ltd, the leading local biscuit maker, and its rival have recently raised prices of their popular products.
Energy Plus biscuit, considered as the most-sold biscuit item, of Olympic has witnessed a 15.3-per cent hike at retail level in the last two weeks.
Md Juel Rana, a grocer at Shankar in West Dhanmondi, says they are selling Energy Plus biscuit medium packet at Tk 15 which was Tk 13 earlier.
A senior Olympic official says wheat, oil and sugar, the three key ingredients, have risen exorbitantly in value both globally and locally in the last one year.
According to the TCB, sugar price sees a 25-per cent and edible oil 48-54 per cent hike during the period.
Despite this hike in raw materials, the official says, Olympic maintained a static price so that consumers did not suffer during the peak pandemic period.
The latest price review of some products comes following a further rise in raw material prices, he adds.
According to the Bangladesh Bread, Biscuit and Confectionery Manufacturers Association, and Bangladesh Auto Biscuit and Bread Manufacturers Association, prices of baked and confectionery items like biscuit, bread, cake, bun and toast jumped by 20-25 per cent in the last six months.
Biswajit Saha, director of City Group that markets wheat-flour brand Teer, said import costs of wheat from North America went up to above $500 a tonne which was $420 six months ago and $320 a year earlier.
Wheat price leapt by 40-50 per cent in a year globally, but local flour mills have so far reviewed price by 15-20 per cent on average, he told the FE.
Mr Saha said the latest hike in transport fare due to fuel price surge could further cause an increase in the prices of essentials like flour.
City Group imports 0.4-0.5 million tonnes of wheat annually.
Dr Ismat Ara Begum of agricultural economics and rural sociology dept at Bangladesh Agricultural University said wheat flour was introduced in the country as a cheaper alternative of rice.
But prices of both rice and flour are now the same, leaving no relief for the poor whose numbers have increased notably during this pandemic.
Atta and maida prices have recently touched that of coarse and medium variety rice, stated Dr Ismat.
She said prices of essentials are showing an uptrend globally as many key wheat-growing countries are squeezing external trade to emphasise domestic storage.
She suggested that the government raise both rice and wheat procurement from global and domestic sources to stockpile 3.0-million tonnes in order to tackle the consequence of global food prices.
"And local wheat production should be maximised to help maintain a reasonable price of flour in the domestic market," Dr Ismat observed.
According to a food directorate official, wheat import was considerably low in the first four months of this fiscal amid growing prices of the produce globally.
He says 1.1-million tonnes of wheat have so far been imported during the period against 1.5 million tonnes of the same in the corresponding period last year.
The government has a notable contribution to this year's wheat imports- an estimated 0.17-million tonnes.
Private entities are importing the item cautiously so that a sudden decline in the global price does not affect them, the official remarks.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh vice-president SM Nazer Hossain said the countrywide open-market sale of rice and flour should be raised to tackle the inflationary pressure on the poor fighting to survive this pandemic.
He called for random market monitoring by government agencies to prevent any artificial hike.
The government has a stock of 1.5-million tonnes of food, with wheat being only 0.15-million tonnes.
The country has a demand for 6.5-7.0 million tonnes of wheat, of which it imports 95 per cent from Europe and the Americas.
Local wheat output has remained almost static at 1.0-1.1 tonnes for the past four years, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.
