There has been no let up on the unbridled rise in the prices of essential commodities since long. The reasons, as is generally understood, include higher duty imposed on imports and volatility in the foreign exchange market. Thus the result is the continued appreciation of US dollar against Taka, which is the main driver of inflation. Such high inflation means high prices of commodities, especially, those imported using costly dollars. So, the traders have nothing to do with the price hike of essential commodities, so goes the argument. But it is not wholly true. People with fixed income and those who have no regular income including the poor and the marginal section of the population cannot be satisfied by such reasoning. They are left with only one option and that is to skimp on the consumption of the essential items, the basic foodstuffs. If the price rise continues like this indefinitely, the common people at one point might be driven to the brink of starvation. In fact, many already are. The unrestrained price inflation of consumer items may not affect the rich, extortionists and the owners of black money. But the common people with no other sources of income than what they earn by their hard work are the real sufferers.
Unfortunately, the trading community of Bangladesh is not perturbed in the least about the suffering of the common people. They did never have any dearth of excuses to raise the prices of commodities, be those essential food items, or not. The great Bengal famine of 1943-44 was an instance of how heartless the trading community can be. Experts and historians vary in their opinions about the cause or causes of the famine. However, the majority opinion is that the famine was anthropogenic or manmade. Both the politics of the time and extreme greed of the traders who dealt in the basic staples were behind the catastrophe in which more than 3.0 million people died of starvation, malnutrition and diseases ascribable to severe malnutrition. Though the colonial rulers of that time were directly responsible for artificially creating the famine condition, the complicity of the trading community in that human tragedy on a colossal scale is incontestable. During the famine, food grains including rice and flour were dumped underground denying the starving people their access to those. Even decades later, rotting grains like rice and flour could be found dumped underground at many spots in the countryside. Those were found while excavating earth for building roads or for other purposes.
This is but an extreme case of total insensitivity of a section of the greedy and super-profit-seeking traders towards their fellow people.
So, one should not be surprised when the prices of different items of everyday use spike during the major religious festivals in Bangladesh. This is in sharp contrast to many other countries where the shoppers get big discounts against different consumer items during festivals. But in Bangladesh, the opposite is true-it is always the seller's market. Though ideally a seller's market is one where the goods are in short supply enabling the traders to dictate terms over price, it is not so here. The traders always have the last word on the price of the goods, even though the shelves of the stores are well-stocked with the items in great demand.
At the moment, the members of the public have already started to feel the heat of another price spiral more than a month before the Ramadan. For the prices of chicken, egg, flour, sugar, edible oil, onion, green chili, various spices, certain vegetables including aubergine, cucumber, etc have again started to go up at different kitchen markets in Dhaka. The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) whose job is to maintain a buffer stock of some essential items and sell those at affordable price whenever the market becomes unstable, has meanwhile informed of the price hike of some such essential items like red chili and cumin seed, say reports. As usual, both the wholesale and the retailers have their argument of import restrictions and high price of the US dollar, though the central bank, the Bangladesh Bank (BB), has refused to accept such an explanation. Especially, the BB has dismissed the argument that there is any problem, particularly, regarding availability of US dollar hindering the opening of Letters of Credit (L/Cs) against some Ramadan essentials. The statistics on import of those item as provided by the BB shows that the values of L/C issued this year for importing sugar, edible oils, peas, onions and dates have been higher than those issued last year. That means, as told by the BB spokesperson, the argument of dollar crisis affecting import of these main Ramadan items are not true. The said BB official is learnt to have further assured that those items for which L/Cs have been issued would reach the market ahead of the Ramadan. So, one can assume that there would be abundant supply of those commodities in the Ramadan market.
The BB's assurances apart, the way the prices of the daily essentials including those that will be in greater demand during the coming Ramadan has already started to go up is concerning. Clearly, the unholy nexus, of which a greedy section of the trading community is a part, is at work to manipulate the pre-Ramadan essential commodity market. The sudden upward spike in the prices of the daily necessaries in the kitchen market as observed recently speaks volumes about that.
Exhortations to the trading community to be fair and rational never worked. Strict monitoring and legal action against those engaged in any foul play to distort the essential commodity market should be in place. Most importantly, high level of public awareness against these evil-doers can work as the strongest deterrent against unreasonable price hike in the essential market.