Prices of sugar continued to soar on the local market over the last one and a half weeks, intensifying the woes of the consumers.
Following the price volatility of sugar and of some other essential items, the commerce ministry will hold a meeting with refiners, wholesalers and other stakeholders today (Wednesday) to review their prices, said officials.
Prices of sugar rose to Tk 78-80 a kg on Tuesday, up by Tk 8.0-10 per kg in ten days.
Industry people attributed the soaring sugar prices to the hike on the international market and high import tariffs.
Sugar prices increased by 13 per cent at the retail level in the last one and a half weeks. The current price is 26 per cent higher than that of last year, according to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) data.
Jewel Rana, one of the proprietors of Bismillah Store at West Dhanmondi, said sugar prices had witnessed gradual hike for last one and a half weeks.
The wholesale price first increased to Tk 72-73 a kg in between August 16 and Aug 17 and then it again witnessed a hike by Tk 3.0-4.0 a kg in last three days, he added.
"We are purchasing sugar at Tk76-77 a kg and are retailing it at Tk80 a kg. New packets of branded sugar haven't come yet; but sales executives of the refining companies are indicating the item might be pricier in next few days," said Mr Rana.
Old packets of branded sugar were trading at Tk 80-82 a kg, rising from Tk 78 a kg.
Asked, Biswajit Saha, director of City Group, a leading refining company, said sugar prices have gradually been increasing for the last four months on the global market amid a low production in some leading exporting countries. The price has hit US$540 a tonne this month.
"We brought sugar last month at $480 a tonne", he said.
However, the claim made about international prices of the item is not consistent with those quoted by Index Mundi, a comprehensive data portal.
According to the Mundi, the international prices of sugar was US$ 340 a tonne in March and it soared to US$ 390 in June last.
Mr Saha said tax on per-kg sugar is now nearly Tk 28. It should be reduced to ease prices to some extent.
He also told the scribe that the sugar refiners have sent a letter to the Trade and Tariff Commission proposing to fix mill-gate sugar prices at Tk 78 a kg.
He said refiners are still selling sugar at Tk70 a kg at mill gates.
Additional Commerce Secretary (Import and Internal Trade) AHM Shafiquzzaman told the FE that a meeting had been convened on Wednesday morning with the stakeholders to discuss the price hike issue about some essentials.
"We are expecting a positive outcome of the meeting", he said.
Market monitoring will be continued to prevent any artificial price hike.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh(CAB) vice president SM Nazer Hossain, said consumers, especially those of the limited- income group, are going through hardship amid rising prices of essentials' as well as decline in their income during the ongoing pandemic.
Due to the price uptrend on the international market, the government should cut duties on the import-dependent products like sugar and edible oil, he added.
He said imposing a huge import duty, in the name of protecting local sugar industry, which couldn't even meet 5.0 per cent of the demand, is not at all a judicious move.
He stressed import-duty cut and enhancing market operation of subsidised essentials by the TCB.
The country has a demand for 1.6-1.8 million tonnes of sugar of which state-run mills produce only 60,000-80,000 tonnes.
The rest of the demand is met through import of crude sugar by the refiners.
Bangladesh is the sixth-largest sugar importer in the world with global 2.9 per cent share worth $725 million, according to international web-portal 'Worlds' Top Export'.
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