GROCERY items, including onion, garlic, sugar and chickpea, as well as other vegetables, are selling for higher prices at kitchen markets across the capital as the Ramzan approaching. The government promised that essential food items would not be hiked, but at least 10 days before the Ramzan consumers have started to suffer from the higher price. We see a nexus of dishonest wholesalers and retailers have formed illegal, profit-mongering syndicates which are charging extra prices for the items. The government must ensure strong monitoring on consumers’ rights violation, illegal hoarders, and retail level price hiking.
Market sources said in the last 10 to 12 days, the price per kg of chickpeas went up by Tk 5 to Tk 10, sugar by Tk 5, garlic Tk 10 to Tk 25, ginger Tk 10 to Tk 20, lentil Tk 5 to Tk 10 and potato Tk 2 to Tk 4. Price of each kg of chicken increased by Tk 5 to 15, beef Tk 20, while prices of most of the fish and vegetables by Tk 10 to Tk 30. But prices of soybean oil, date, rice and salt remained almost static.
People said as the income didn’t increase, they have to eat less and make adjustments to their food habits. The city people are paying extra for the essentials at a time when the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) say there has been a downtrend in prices of food items in the international markets. CAB director said prices of goods go up before every Ramzan as a section of traders used to engage in an “ugly competition” of making extra profits. This year, the traders took up a new strategy. They hiked the prices before Shab-e-Barat so that it seems the market is stable during Ramzan.
We do ask the government to take strict measures against the profit mongers, illegal hoarders and retailers in a bid to keep essential goods’ price reasonable during the holy month.
