Every year, when it comes to holy month of Ramadan, a vested group becomes mercurial to hike the prices of essential commodities to multiply the woes of the people. However, to tackle the price hike, the government is forming joint teams comprising representatives of different ministries.
As the holy month is approaching, changes in prices of commodities are already being seen in the kitchen markets. These organised dishonest traders also form syndicates, create an artificial crisis of essentials, especially those consumed during the Ramadan. They start hiking prices of onion, sugar, edible soya bean oil, edible palm oil, garlic, ginger, lentils, chickpeas, dried chilli, cinnamon, clove, cardamom, seeds of coriander and cumin, turmeric, bay leaves, and edible salt.
This year, in order to strictly oversee the kitchen market, the government is forming joint monitoring teams of Home Ministry and Commerce Ministry. These teams will monitor from grassroots to the central level to check the price hike of essentials at the wholesale and retail markets, as the country has adequate stock of essentials.
At the same time, these teams will take tough action against those who would be found hoarding essentials during the Ramadan for creating artificial crisis in the market. Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB) leaders told The Bangladesh Post , “To keep the market stable, a tripartite coordination among traders, government, and consumers is needed. If prices of commodities in the international market remain constant and Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) goes for large scale import of essentials, the market will remain stable during Ramadan”.
“Sudden outbreak of Coronavirus may hinder the export-import process, but we should create different sources to meet our local demand”, they added. As per the government statistics, the annual demand of gram is 1.40 lakh tonnes, which largely depends on imports from Australia. Every year, gram demand is gradually increasing.
Chattogram Dal Traders Mill Association’s former president Sanjay Dev Khokon informed that, “Earlier, imported gram basically was used in Ramdan and the rest was used during winter. But, now the essentials have demand round the year”. About the price, he said, “It’s price depends on booking price in international market and local demand. At the same consumers must have to be aware of the rumor of unscrupulous traders”.
The annual demand for onion is about 2.4 million tonnes. Some 0.5 million tonnes will be needed in the month of fasting. As per the official data, the country produced over 2.33 million tonnes of onion last fiscal year and set a target to produce 2.38 million tonnes of the item in the current fiscal.
The country's annual demand for sugar is 1.8 million tonnes. During Ramadan, some 0.3 million tonnes of sugar will be required. Besides, the country's annual demand for lentils is over 0.45 million tonnes. Some 80,000 tonnes of lentils will be required only during Ramadan To facilitate the traders of the country, the government is also issued a letter to the central bank to instruct all commercial banks in order to take necessary steps to facilitate quick imports of some 17 essential commodities by traders, said a press release. The items are onions, sugar, edible soya bean oil, edible palm oil, garlic, ginger, lentils, chickpeas, dried chilli, cinnamon, clove, cardamom, seeds of coriander and cumin, turmeric, bay leaves, and edible salt.