Prices of the essentials, especially grocery items, vegetables and fishes have increased despite the government promises to check price hike of daily commodities ahead of Ramadan.
During visits to some of the capital’s kitchen markets including Karwanbazar, Malibag and Khilgaon on Saturday, prices of essential commodities including onion, garlic and ginger, sugar, pulses, chickpea and vegetables were found to have gone up by at least Tk10-20 on an average, compared with the previous one or two weeks.
Prices of fishes have increased 10-30% and beef 10%, while poultry and egg prices showed a slight fall.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi recently said they government would do everything to check price hike of essentials before Ramandan this year through strong market monitoring and other effective measures.
Market insiders said the price hike right before Ramadan was not unusual. Retailers blame wholesalers for the price hike during the fasting month of the Muslims.
Wholesaler, however, shifted the blame to the warehouse owners were increasing the price by controlling the supply.
Anwar Hossain Norshu, a Karwanbazar-based wholesaler, said the price of some essential products increased like previous years.
“The demand has soared now but we were not getting sufficient supply from the warehouse owners,” he said.
Ghulam Rahman, president of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), believes that people’s trend of buying all essential products together right before Ramadan put a pressure on the market.
“A group of unscrupulous traders take the advantage of higher demand and hike price,” he claimed.
Price hike of one or two items was not unusual but price of hike of most of the commodities was a matter of concern, said Rahman, also former chairman of Anti Corruption Commission (ACC).
He suggested that the government should identify those who were manipulating the markets, and penalize them.
Besides, consumers should avoid purchasing essentials in one buy, he added.
Prices of commodities
Onion was found selling at Tk25-30 per kg, which was Tk16-20 two weeks ago. The prices of garlic, cumin, chili, turmeric and other spices increased by Tk20-40, compared with the previous week. Cardamom was selling at Tk2,200 to Tk2,800, which was Tk2,000-2,600 last week.
The price of chickpea increased by Tk10 within a week to Tk 90 per kg, and local lentil price rose by Tk5 to Tk90-100 while Indian lentil by Tk10 to Tk70.
Sugar price jumped to Tk55 from Tk48 and pea-flour to Tk90 from Tk70 last week. The prices of edible oil also increased by Tk2 per kg and a 5kg pack sold at Tk490.
Prices of many vegetables including brinjal, tomato were found at least Tk10 to Tk30 higher than previous week.
