It has become a practice that prices of essential commodities make a phenomenal jump at the beginning of every Ramadan in the country. This year also, the same scenario is being witnessed. On the one hand, the government claims that there are no shortages of commodities for the month of Ramadan and on the other, prices of some essentials continue to rise in the retail markets.
Like every year, the traders gave an assurance that the prices of basic commodities would not go up during Ramadan, as there is an adequate supply of those to serve the local markets. They gave such assurance to Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed at a meeting held this week.
The minister called upon the traders to refrain from trading blame game over price hike and urged upon them not to increase the prices of the essential commodities. The essential commodities that remain stocked would be marketed through operation of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) during Ramadan to keep the prices affordable for the people, he said.
But the fact remains that the prices of some commodities like rice, sugar, onion, gram and edible oil have already gone up in the local market ahead of the Ramadan. Among these items, sudden jump in rice prices is noteworthy. The prices have increased by Tk 03 to Tk 05 per kilogramme (kg). Traders have attributed the cause to substantial damage of paddy in the Haor regions due to collapse of embankments and flash floods.
Anticipating a possible shortfall, many unscrupulous traders have raised the prices arbitrarily. In order to stem the rising trend, Badamtoli Rice Traders Association chief suggested allowing rice imports from India to increase supply and bring down the price of the staple.
On the price hike of imported goods like sugar and edible oil, traders argued that prices of those commodities have increased due to a sudden jump in the exchange rate of the taka against the US dollar. Last week, a US dollar exchanged at Tk 85, which was at Tk 78-79 a few weeks back.
Analysts say the dollar rate should remain at Tk 80 for a stable market of basic goods. The reason of sudden rise in dollar rate is not yet clear. The dollar rate is falling in the European markets. In the context of Bangladesh, there is no reason why it would make such a big jump.
On sugar price rise, the authorities claimed that there was a disruption in the supply of sugar from the factories for a machinery malfunction in the last few days. Maintenance of the equipment will be completed in a couple of days and production will resume in full capacity, they said. Meantime, the price of salt has increased between Tk 400 and Tk 500 a sack for no apparent reason.
The Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) said special powers act should be enforced against unscrupulous traders, if necessary, for conducting crackdown on them to keep the prices within the reach of the poor people. It said there is no strict monitoring in the market. For that reason, the prices of essentials are rising further during the fasting month.
Unreasonable price hike of the essentials in the market is, indeed, causing sufferings to the common people, particularly the ones from lower strata. What the government can do is to bring the importers, wholesalers, and even the retailers, under a regular consultative process to keep prices from rising.
In fact, the country is supposed to follow an open market economy which talks about competitive prices. But in reality, the market is being controlled by a syndication which is responsible for hiking the prices of essentials.
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