Edible oil, sugar and some essentials became costlier last week increasing sufferings of the commoners who had already dug deep into their pockets to meet the rising cost of living triggered by price hike of other items of day-to-day necessities.
Meanwhile, the crowd of commoners before open market sales (OMS) trucks of TCB got larger even in the scorching heat last week in the wake of unabated price hike of essentials.
Prices of chicken, beef and some vegetables also showed a slight hike in the past week compounding sufferings of the consumers.
The state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has been selling soybean oil at subsidised rate of Tk 90 per litre, sugar at Tk 50 a kilogram, onion Tk 15 a kg and lentil at Tk 55 a kg for the last few months.
Soybean oil was sold at Tk 125-140 per litre, sugar at Tk 75-78 a kg, onion Tk 35-45 and medium lentil at Tk 80-85 a kg in the city retail markets and groceries on Friday.
Prices of cooking oil, especially palm oil, increased to Tk 110-118 a litre last week, a hike of Tk 5.0 a litre in seven days.
Loose soybean oil prices hit a record Tk 125-126 a litre on Friday--- up by Tk 5.0-6.0 from the rates last week. Branded bottled soybean oil prices surged to Tk 136-140 a litre from Tk 135- 138, according to the grocerers.
Loose sugar prices, which slightly declined recently, again rose to Tk 75 a kg while branded sugar prices remained static at Tk 75-78 a kg.
Prices onion, a kitchen staple, remained almost same at Tk 35-45 a kg during the period.
Mosammat Jubeda, a housemaid at Shekertek in Mohammadpur came to an OMS truck on Ring Road at Shyamoli at 8am on Thursday to buy some essentials at subsidised rates.
She told the FE: "Edible oil, sugar and onion are usually sold out much earlier from the trucks amid huge crowd, so I've come earlier to secure a comfortable place in the long queue."
Ms Jubeda said palm oil price is now more than Tk 110 a litre which forced her to stand in the queue to buy soybean oil at Tk 90 a litre.
She said: "We are going through a hardship amid the sky rocketing prices of rice, sugar, palm oil, farm chicken and most of the other essentials."
She said apart from the four products, the government should start OMS of rice so that many like her could buy the staple at an affordable rate and survive with their family.
As the mercury rose notably, Haider Ali, a rickshaw-puller, was seen securing his place in the OMS queue near Mugda Medical College and Hospital in the city by leaving a brick in his space as a symbol to avoid the scorching sun while he took shelter at a nearby tea-stall.
"I failed to buy oil and sugar on Wednesday as I was late. Stock of the two items ended long before 2:00 pm on the day," he informed.
TCB spokesperson Md Humayun Kabir told the FE that a total of 400 trucks are selling the four essential items across the country of which 80 were operating within the capital.
TCB allocate 1000 litres of soybean oil, one tonne of sugar, 750 kgs of lentil and 400-500 kgs of onion for each OMS truck. He also said that dates and chickpeas will be added from the first week of April as part of their Ramadan sale.
Adding to the woes of the consumers, prices of beef, both broiler and indigenous chicken, vegetables like brinjal, local bean, cucumber, cauliflower and cabbage prices showed hike in the past seven days.
Beefwas sold at Tk 560-620 per kg based on quality- a Tk 10-20 a kg hike - in the city.
Broiler chicken prices increased to Tk 160-165, layer Tk 220-230, Pakistani Tk 350-370, indigenous Tk 460-500 a kg- Tk 5.0-Tk 20 a kg hike in the week.
Vegetable also became pricier, witnessing Tk 5.0-20 a piece /kg hike in the last seven days.
