Fresh price spike of essentials in August in a resurgence compounds consumer woes and forces millions of poor even to reduce consumption, sources say.
After eggs, beef, chickens, fishes, onions, and garlic, the price of key vegetable brinjal shot up to Tk 100-120 a kg on Monday, in a 25-30-percent hike in a day and 100 per cent in three weeks.
Coarse wheat flour or atta and flour-made bread and paratha, spices like cumin seeds, potato, other vegetables like bitter gourd, long-yard bean, cucumber, clocasia stem, some fruits like apple, orange (malta), coconut, coarse lentils also witnessed 8.0-35-percent price hike, according to market sources.
Onion prices shot up to Tk 70-90 a kg from Tk 50-70, and traders attributed the rise to a recent export-duty imposition by neighbouring India.
Cumin-seed price hit an all-time high at Tk 1400-1600 a kg while the companies raised the price of packet cumin powder to maximum Tk 2200 a kg this August-rated highest in the world, according to the Consumers Association of Bangladesh.
Egg price surged by 22 per cent to hit a record Tk 180 a dozen on August 09.
The price later came down to Tk 155-160 a dozen, but still 15-percent higher than the July mark, according to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).
Broiler chicken and cultured fish prices shot up by Tk 20-50 a kg in a fresh spurt, augmenting woes of the poor who mainly depend on those items apart from eggs for their protein intake.
Limited-income families with one or more dengue patients fell in a dire straight as fruit prices increased significantly this month.
Coconut was found selling at Tk 160-180 apiece while citrus like malta orange was selling at Tk 270-290 a kg.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) vice-president SM Nazer Hossain says egg prices are still Tk 10-15 higher than the government- set Tk 144 a dozen.
He mentions that the government announced permitting import of the item following volatility on the market but it was not being implemented.
"All of the egg-market culprits detected by the Directorate of National Consumers Right Protection (DNCRP) in 2022 go unpunished, which encourages them this year to do this once again," he says.
He said traders raised onion price overnight on the excuse of export- duty imposition by India though the products were imported at least ten days back.
"We see hardly any move by the government to take control of the volatile onion market."
He says companies are selling cumin powder in 50-gram pack at Tk 105 which means maximum Tk 2100 a kg but there is hardly any question raised from any quarter.
Farm-economist Prof Rashidul Hasan says millions of people are reducing consumptions of protein, vegetables, and fruits to make an adjustment with their tiny income amid the rocketing trend of daily necessities.
He thinks the ministry of fisheries and livestock had set a rational price on August 13 for farm eggs-Tk 12 as maximum retail price.
"If the leading companies fail to make it, then the government should pursue import if it is cheaper than the domestic eggs," says the farm economist in his suggestion.
The government will have to encourage the private sector to import onions also from other countries besides India as there is a possibility the neighbouring country slaps an export ban anytime, he says.
He notes that although the animal-feed mills reduced price of feed by Tk 2.0-3.0 a kg, it is not rational as costs of corn, soya meal showed 10-15-a-kg decline during the period.
Costs of cultured fishes, farm eggs, chickens and red meat could be cut down notably if feed prices could be minimised.
And market monitoring should be stricter now, involving all agencies concerned, he suggests.
tonmoy.wardad@gmail.com
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