Naim-Ul-Karim
Prices of different brands of cigarettes have increased by Tk 7.0 to Tk 15 per pack of 20 in the city's retail market from the very first day of the fiscal year 2007-08.
In the retail market, Gold Leaf, Benson and Hedges, and Pall Mall brands produced by British American Tobacco Bangladesh (BATB) were selling at Tk 55, Tk 91 and Tk 45 respectively as against their regular prices of Tk. 45, Tk. 76 and Tk 36 per packet Sunday.
Besides, prices of a 20-pack Star cigarette jumped from Tk 22 to Tk 27 while that of Navy brand increased to Tk 26 from Tk 22.
Retailers, in the city market, alleged that a section of wholesalers have increased the prices of the cigarettes on the grounds of inadequate supply.
When asked, KM Shahed Zubair, corporate communication manager of BATB, said they did not issue any notice on price hike of their cigarettes.
"We are not aware of the price hike of the cigarettes in the city markets," he said.
However, the National Board of Revenue (NBR), sources said, after a meeting with the tobacco companies, it rescheduled the supplementary duty (SD) under four segments.
The SD slabs have been fixed at 32 per cent, 52 per cent, 55 per cent and 57 per cent for low, medium, high and premium brands respectively with selling price ranging between Tk 6.00 and Tk 6.99, Tk 12.50 and Tk 13.49, Tk 19.00 and Tk 26.49, Tk 35.00 and above per pack.
However, sources of tobacco companies said they will soon hold a meeting to discuss whether the prices have to be hiked or not.
The tobacco companies, other than BATB, had not yet increased price of cigarettes despite government's fixation of new price ranges, they claimed.
Cigarette prices on increase
FE Team | Published: July 02, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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