Prices of chick-pea seen stable this Ramadan

Jasim Uddin Haroon | Published: August 06, 2008 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

The prices of chick-pea, the most-consumed item during Iftar, is much lower this time than in the previous year and it might remain stable during the holy month of Ramadan, traders told the FE Tuesday.

This is happening at a time when the inflation is going up and the consumer spending is under pressure, traders said.

As of Tuesday, the wholesale price of the item was Tk 48 in Chittagong and Tk 50 in Dhaka. The wholesale prices of it ranged between Tk 58 and Tk 60 during the corresponding period in 2007.

Traders said import of chick pea from neighbouring Myanmar on a large scale through the landport at Teknaf is the main reason behind such a stable price of the item in the local market.

'Chick-pea is now selling at prices between Tk 1,800 and 1,840 a maund, although my import cost is more than Tk 2,100 per maund. I imported it from Australia,' Abul Bashar, chairman of Masud and Brothers, the country's leading chick-pea importer, told the FE.

Businesses concerned in the port city and in Dhaka told the FE that earlier Myanmar used to supply the white variety of chick pea, but this year exporters of Myanmar have been supplying the variety which is very popular in the local market.

Bangladesh mainly imports chick-pea from Australia and Myanmar. It also occasionally imports from Pakistan and India.

Shamsul Hoque, a commission agent at Khatoonganj in the port city, told the FE that the prices of chick pea remained stable mainly due to the huge import of the same from Myanmar.

'We are getting around 60 tonnes of chick pea of the Myanmar origin each day. I think this is the main reason behind the huge demand for the item at the retailer level,' Mr Shamsul added.

Md Ali, chairman of Imam Group, a leading trading house, told the FE that they were incurring huge financial losses due to the sharp fall in prices of chick-pea in the local market.

Md Ali said there is an adequate stock of the item in the country.

There is a demand for around 80,000 tonnes of chick-pea a year in the country and around 50 per cent of the total demand is consumed during the month of Ramadan.

Alhaj Shafi Mahmud, president of Bangladesh Dal Samity (Bangladesh Pulse Traders Association), also expressed the hope that the prices of the important item would remain stable during Ramadan.