The official formalities have reportedly been completed from the Bangladesh end for import of eggs from India and those are likely to arrive anytime this week. How should the news be received here? The question that should agitate probing minds is, has the production of eggs suffered a tremendous setback suddenly on account of an epidemic in the poultry farms of the country? Or, have people here started consuming more eggs than ever before? Clearly, neither of the two has been responsible for the volatility of egg market. There is no indication that the demand-supply chain has been disrupted ever since the egg price started skyrocketing along with other commodities following the Ukraine war-induced fuel price shock.
This happened almost worldwide but since the second quarter of this year, market volatility everywhere has eased off except in Bangladesh. Market forces here are not allowed to function normally, those are distorted and manipulated. Everyone is aware of the tricks and intrigues but the authorities fail to stop the foul play by what is known as business syndicates. The pattern of business malpractice is also known: such syndicates target different commodities at different times. It appears they have a mutual understanding of allowing specific businesspeople to score goals in the open net and stash their coffer with billions of taka over a period.
Thus, cooking oil and sugar market heated up to a level where the two commodities continued unrelentingly to break price records. Well, the country is dependent on import of these two commodities and their prices are linked to global market. Surprisingly, if prices go up, it takes no time to adjust the price high up even though those items may have been imported at a lower price. But when the prices drop, there is no immediate adjustment with the lower prices on the excuse that the commodities were imported at higher prices.
Leave cooking oil and sugar alone, what about rice, potato and onion? The official version is that the country produces enough rice for its need. But why should the country import it? Is there a misnomer so far as the official data are concerned? Onion production was 3.6 million tonnes last time against the total demand for 2.6 million tonnes. Accepted that storing inefficiency causes damage to onion but to what extent is the moot question. Finally, potato that has remained surplus and cheaper for years, this time has registered an illogical price spiral. Again, there is a mismatch between the figures provided by the two government agencies. According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), 11.20 million tonnes of potato were produced, while the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) estimates it at 10.40 million tonnes. The demand for potato here is estimated at 9.0 million tonnes.
What is most significant here is that the production cost for a kilogram of potato was Tk 12-13 and at the cold storage gate it came up to Tk 18-20. It just went up to Tk 26-27 in May. If this is so, what is the rationale behind pushing the price up to Tk 45-50 or even higher at times to Tk 55-60?
There is a limit to reaping profit. Hardly do the growers of this commonly used vegetable benefit from this artificially triggered price escalation. After playing the role of a silent spectator for long, the authorities at last fixed the prices of the three commodities only to be non-complied with by traders.
The next reaction is rather funny. Now eggs are being imported from India. Will they import potato, too? If there is genuine shortage, import is a viable option. When there is no crisis of a commodity and still it gets irrationally pricier, import is no substitute because those who will import will not make a drastic cut in the market price.
After all the business fraternity cannot be disobeyed. It is the management of market where the authorities must focus on. If the entire process of production, transport, storage and supply at the consumer level can be smooth and transparent, there will be no need for import of eggs or for that matter other commodities produced locally in sufficient quantities.
nilratanhalder2000@yahoo.com