MEDIA report said people queue is getting longer around TCB’s truck selling of some essentials at various city points as continued price hike of cooking oil and other commodities is seriously impacting people’s buying capacity. Even middle income people are joining the queue with the poor slum dwellers as the high cost of living is forcing them to ignoring their social respectability.
Prices of Soybean and palm oil would be Tk 8 (eight taka) more from today (Saturday) following notification of new price hike by Bangladesh Vegetables Oil Refiners’ And Vanaspati Manufacturers Association in the name of price hike in international market. They have unilaterally made the decision and informed the commerce secretary recently in this regard. It will sell now at Tk 168 per litre which is up from Tk 160 per litre bottled oil. A five-litre bottle will sell now at Tk 800 that’s up from Tk 750. It would sell at Tk 540 a year ago. The latest spike is the fourth time since May last year.
Refiners in November wanted to increase the price by Tk 12 per litre and attempted in early December again but the commerce ministry apparently didn’t agree with it. This time refiners have made their own decision ignoring the government. It is true that the price hike in global market has made import costlier but we disagree with the huge jump in retail price at a stroke in domestic market. We are in the dark how the refiners bargain with the government and how they unilaterally move disregarding consumers’ presence from the bargaining table. We are appalled by the unholy nexus between the government and the refiners where retailers’ voice is always missing. The government should have protected the interest of voters but fails as it is also a part of the trade lobbies.
Refiners have cited higher fuel price and inflation to have influenced their decision. But retailers are equally impacted by these factors. Moreover house rent is on rise, vegetables prices and cost of other spices are staying at exorbitantly high. Only income of office-goers is not increasing. More people are thus falling to the category of new poor to show why the queue at TCB sales outlet is only getting longer.
