The government will sale wheat flour in open market sale (OMS) from next month, food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder said on Tuesday.
In a dialogue at the secretariat organised by Bangladesh Secretariat Reporters' Forum, he said the flour packaging has already started to prevent black marketing.
"There is a scope of black marketing if the flour is being sold without packaging. The price will be a bit higher but we can prevent black marketing," he said.
About the rice market syndicate, the food minister said efforts are undergoing to break the syndicate of the rice.
The OMS programme will be continuing throughout the year to control the market, said the minister.
Another report by benews24.com adds: Sadhan Chandra Majumder says the government is planning to launch a website that discloses price information on the rice market at three stages to regulate prices.
Millers will use the site to announce the rice price at the mill gate, wholesalers will announce the price at markets and retailers will announce the price at shops. "In this way, the price of rice can be regulated," the minister said at a discussion organised by the BSRF journalist group at the Secretariat on Tuesday.
The market for rice has grown unstable because a group of traders are taking advantage of certain situations, according to the minister.
In accordance with the recent rise in oil prices, the price of rice was to go up Tk 1 per kg at most, but the price instead rose as much as Tk 8 per kg, the minister said.
Millers claim the price at the mill gates has stayed the same and no one else has owned up to raising the price. "Under these circumstances, how did prices rise?" the minister said.
"The truth is, some traders like the instability and current state of the market. It is the instability that is causing issues."
