Price-spurt of vegetableshits consumers hard
October 10, 2011 00:00:00
Nizam Ahmed and Talha Bin Habib
An unabated price-spurt of different varieties of vegetables and also fish, a source of essential protein, has hit hard the middle- and low-income groups of people.
Most consumers are in great financial hardship to meet their demand for most kitchen items within their limited income largely because of their exorbitant prices.
Consumers said there is no proper monitoring of prices by anyone. Prices are showing an erratic behaviour everyday and vary widely from one market to another within the capital city and there is none to look into such matters, they observed.
Citing the case of green chilli in particular, they noted its price per kilogram (kg) has been found to jump 50 per cent in a single day for no credible reason. Its retail price was Taka 200 per kg Sunday against Taka 150 per kg the day before in some city markets.
Many ordinary consumers are seen these days to leave vegetable markets only with raw papaya and few spinach which are available at around Taka 25 or Taka 30 per kg. The prices of other varieties of vegetables have gone abnormally high during the last couple of month.
The time for new supplies of vegetable items is now in the offing but the prices are yet to show much of a downward trend. However, the price of potato has remained at a relatively lower level -- Taka 16 per kg -- mainly of a "bumper" stock of this item this year.
Most other vegetables now sell in the market at prices not below Taka 50.00 per kg. The delicious vegetable varieties sold in the market Sunday between Taka 60 and taka 100 per kg on Sunday.
Prices of fish and vegetables are at least 20 per cent higher than the last month. "It hurts every body and the common people are the most aggrieved ones," Tafassal Hossain, an executive of a real-estate firm told the FE.
"Despite enjoying a relatively higher level of income compared to many others, I can not afford to buy all essentials for which my wife picks up quarrel with me regularly," taxi driver Mohammad Danesh said.
"I am worried as I cannot take care of my school children properly," he added.
Hilsha fish -- despite the temporary periodic ban now in force for facilitating breeding -- was available in some retail markets in the city on Sunday and sold between at Tk 1000 and 1200 for a pair of medium-sized ones. The price of shrimp ranged from Tk 450 to 850 per kg, depending on size; other varieties of fish were sold between Tk 120 to Tk 600 per kg at different retails markets on Sunday.
On their part, the traders put the blame for the price-rise on rising transportation costs, labour charges for handling operations, extortion at different levels and, as usual, the supply-shortage.
And again, the retailers and wholesalers have different versions about the price situation. The wholesalers are charging them higher prices for the supplies while the wholesalers say that they are supplying the retailers with the items at prices that are 'justified' by what they term, their high costs of procurement under the given set of circumstances.
Consumers fear that the prices are likely to scale up further in the coming weeks ahead of the upcoming Muslim Eid-ul-Azha feast of sacrifice, when people consume a lot of kitchen items like cooking oil, spices and also sugar.
Eid-ul-Azha is due in the second week of November.
Though cooking oil remained stable in prices in past two weeks, albeit at a level higher than what they were even a couple of months back, there was an upward trend in price of spices and sugar, consumers said.
The latest fuel-oil price hike has further pushed up the prices of most of the essentials in the market badly affecting consumers, especially the limited income group, consumers and markets insiders said.
Loose edible oil was sold at Tk 110-112 per litre and palm oil at Tk 97-100 a litre on Sunday while cans of brands of five-kg-litre were sold between Tk 590 and Tk 600.
"It is an unbearable situation for the common people as prices of fish, eggs and vegetables have all gone very high beyond their affordable manner," Shahida Ahad, a teacher of a government-run high school told the FE at Karwan Bazar kitchen market.
"I needed a dozen of broiler eggs for my children, but bought only half of it as the vendor demanded Taka 82 per dozen," she said with a strong note of displeasure.
A government official said there is no way-out from this situation because production, supplies and distribution operations are now all carried out by the "businesses" in the private sector.
"I am also badly hit by the price spiral of commodities. But like others, I have to accept the situation as there is no immediate way-out," he said.
Traders at a wholesale market blamed lack of regular monitoring in the retail market for the rise of vegetable and fish prices.
They also added rising costs of handling charges of labour and transportation as the causes, among others, for price hike.
The transport cost for carrying vegetables from the northern districts to the capital city has increased due to the latest fuel price hike by the government, according to the wholesalers.
"Transport cost of vegetables by per truck from Bogra and other northern parts of the country to the capital Dhaka is now between Tk 10,000 and Tk 12,000. It was between Tk 8,000 and Tk 9,000 before the fuel-oil price hike," a vegetables wholesaler at Karwan Bazar told the FE Sunday.
"I have to pay Tk 8.0 as transportation cost to carry per kg of vegetables on the roof top of bus to the capital. The cost was between Tk 4.0 and Tk 5.0 before fuel-oil price hike," Md Ansar Ali, vegetable suppliers from Bogra to the capital, told the FE over phone the same day.
Shah Alam, a trader at city's Shayam Bazar wholesale vegetable market admitted that the increased carrying cost of vegetables by truck pushed up the wholesale prices due to the latest fuel-oil price hike.
Transportation and handling labour costs rose by 15 per cent since the fuel prices was hiked up to 19 per cent in September, transport operators said.
"It is really an unbearable situation for us following the increased prices of essentials commodities including different types of green vegetables," Md Bazlul Haque a private service holder vented his frustration to the FE Sunday at Kaptan Bazar in the capital.
System loss in transportation of vegetables and fish from the farms to the retail markets could be yet another cause of price-hike, traders said.
They said the system loss was caused by gradual weightlessness due to drying up and rotting in course of transportation.
They also blamed silent and invisible extortion at different places by various vested interest groups.
"We cannot prove the extortion by law enforcers and the vested quarters directly as they have put in place a built in mechanism for 'toll collection'. Both wholesale and retail traders, have to give them some sort of 'subscription' to make things go easy," said Dulal Meah, a leader of traders association of Karwan Bazar Kitchen Wholesale market.
"Who bothers whom, retailers are cashing 50 per cent more profit from consumers just across the street," he said.
While the prices in wholesale and retail markets vary widely, the ordinary buyers cannot purchase their small quantities of the required items from the wholesalers. A minimum of five kg of any item has to be bought from the wholesale market.
There is none to ask why retail prices are so high.
"We are helpless. We buy the items from the wholesale markets at higher prices," fish vendor Siddique Ahmed told the FE at Karwan Bazar retail kitchen market. Vegetable retailer Mohammad Sumon also echoed the same.
The commerce ministry and the Dhaka City Corporation often conduct mobile courts to enforce prices as quoted in the price-chart, he said.
"After few drives, the courts become reluctant to continue their operation and disappear at subsequent stages, giving the chances back to the retailers to hike the prices again at their whims," said Muhammad Nuruzzaman, another wholesale businessman at Karwan Bazar.
Commerce ministry officials claimed that at least three market monitoring teams were active, admitting, however, that it was inadequate, in number, to control the whole range of kitchen markets across the country.
Traders said several agencies and intermediaries who are involved in handling the supplies of vegetables and fish from the growers' level to the consumers in the cities, reap the lion's part of the price paid by the latter at the end-point of the supply-chain, giving the minimal return to the farmers.
If an item costs at Taka 5.0 at the growers level, it costs nearly Tk. 30.0 at consumer the level, because it changes at least five different hands to reach the retail markets in the major city, a trader said giving an example.
A section of economists suggested for the revival of Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) or setting up of new state-owned organisations to deal effectively with the problems of severe price volatility in the market.
However, another section of economists hold a different view, noting such an intervention by the government in the market will ultimately produce no sustained good result, except creating a new scope for rent-seeking and corruption.
Visiting different retail markets Sunday, this correspondent found tomato was sold at Tk 90 per kg against Tk 75 last week.
Balasam apple, carrot, long bean, carrot, cucumber and ladies finger were selling between Tk 55 and Tk 60 per kg.
Robiullah, a retailer at AGB Colony Kitchen market told the FE Sunday that he had purchased one 'palla' (each contains five-kg) of cucumber at Tk 200, snake gourd at Tk 250, balsam apple at Tkl 270, bean at Tk 270 and long bean at Tk 190 from Karwan Bazar wholesale market Sunday.
Asked why the per kg of vegetables is sold between Tk 15 and Tk 20 higher than the wholesale market price, he said they had no way but to sell the vegetables at such prices as transportation costs and other informal charges had gone up high.
He said recent rains have damaged the green chili garden partly that had caused its short supply to the market.
He, however, expressed optimism that the prices of different varieties of winter vegetables would soon come down to a tolerable level, once the new supplies arrive in market adequately.
