Anisul Islam Noor :
Chickpea (gram) is likely to be dearer in the month of Ramzan, as India’s demand for it has pushed up global price, officials and traders said.
The holy Ramzan is going to start from the first week of June. The price of the item is varies from Tk 78 to Tk 85 per kg now, which was Tk 58 to Tk 64 per kg during the month of Ramzan (June-July) in 2015, which was 32 to 35 per cent lower than that of recent price, according to traders in the city.
Md Rahim Uddin, a grocer of Karwan Bazar told The New Nation, that the price of chickpea was rising at the Moulvibazar wholesale market in the city for the last four months.
“I have bought three maunds of chickpea at Tk 2,950 per maund on Sunday, which was Tk 2,500 to Tk 2,550 per maund in February,” he said.
Md Shafi, President of Bangladesh Pulses Wholesalers’ Association, said that the price of lentil, green pea (motor daal) and chickpea have been rising for the last six months
He said that, the import cost of different varieties of chickpea had been $750 to $900 for the last few months against $510 to $640 per tonne during the corresponding period of last year.
The global price might be higher, but there will be no scarcity of the item, as most of the traders have good stock and several importers have opened L/Cs (letter of credit) to import more.
Deputy Executive of the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) Abul Hasnat Chowdhury said, the corporation has imported chickpea from Australia recently to help keep price from spiraling in Ramzan.
Last year, the TCB imported 1,500 tonnes of chickpea from Tanzania, sources said.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, the annual demand for chickpea in the country is nearly 0.3 million tonnes, of which people consume more than 60 per cent in the month of Ramzan alone.
The country produces 0.01 to 0.015 million tonnes of chickpea only annually, according to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) data Bangladesh imports chickpea mainly from Australia, Canada, Mexico, Tanzania Turkey and some other countries.
Assistant Director of Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) T M Rashed Khan told the reporters that the price had increased in the world market despite having good production in the major exporting countries. “Higher demand in India has raised the global chickpea price,” he said.
He said, output of chickpea has declined significantly in India where nearly 8.5 million tonnes of chickpea is consumed annually.
The country produces an estimated 7.1 million tonnes of chickpea in 2015, while the global output was 11.26 million tonnes. According to the India-based commodity web-portal Agriwatch, the price of chickpea was between Rupee 50 to Rupee 67 (Tk 60 to Tk 80) recently at wholesales in India.
The price of good quality of chickpea at the farm level in the North-American country is CAD $0.51 to 0.54 per pound (Tk 69.4 to Tk 73.4 per kg), according to Canada-based business-portal statup.com.
Chickpea (gram) is likely to be dearer in the month of Ramzan, as India’s demand for it has pushed up global price, officials and traders said.
The holy Ramzan is going to start from the first week of June. The price of the item is varies from Tk 78 to Tk 85 per kg now, which was Tk 58 to Tk 64 per kg during the month of Ramzan (June-July) in 2015, which was 32 to 35 per cent lower than that of recent price, according to traders in the city.
Md Rahim Uddin, a grocer of Karwan Bazar told The New Nation, that the price of chickpea was rising at the Moulvibazar wholesale market in the city for the last four months.
“I have bought three maunds of chickpea at Tk 2,950 per maund on Sunday, which was Tk 2,500 to Tk 2,550 per maund in February,” he said.
Md Shafi, President of Bangladesh Pulses Wholesalers’ Association, said that the price of lentil, green pea (motor daal) and chickpea have been rising for the last six months
He said that, the import cost of different varieties of chickpea had been $750 to $900 for the last few months against $510 to $640 per tonne during the corresponding period of last year.
The global price might be higher, but there will be no scarcity of the item, as most of the traders have good stock and several importers have opened L/Cs (letter of credit) to import more.
Deputy Executive of the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) Abul Hasnat Chowdhury said, the corporation has imported chickpea from Australia recently to help keep price from spiraling in Ramzan.
Last year, the TCB imported 1,500 tonnes of chickpea from Tanzania, sources said.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, the annual demand for chickpea in the country is nearly 0.3 million tonnes, of which people consume more than 60 per cent in the month of Ramzan alone.
The country produces 0.01 to 0.015 million tonnes of chickpea only annually, according to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) data Bangladesh imports chickpea mainly from Australia, Canada, Mexico, Tanzania Turkey and some other countries.
Assistant Director of Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) T M Rashed Khan told the reporters that the price had increased in the world market despite having good production in the major exporting countries. “Higher demand in India has raised the global chickpea price,” he said.
He said, output of chickpea has declined significantly in India where nearly 8.5 million tonnes of chickpea is consumed annually.
The country produces an estimated 7.1 million tonnes of chickpea in 2015, while the global output was 11.26 million tonnes. According to the India-based commodity web-portal Agriwatch, the price of chickpea was between Rupee 50 to Rupee 67 (Tk 60 to Tk 80) recently at wholesales in India.
The price of good quality of chickpea at the farm level in the North-American country is CAD $0.51 to 0.54 per pound (Tk 69.4 to Tk 73.4 per kg), according to Canada-based business-portal statup.com.
