Prices of onions, eggs and edible oils started declining, but sugar and potato prices remained stuck to their previous highs defying the government-fixed rate by a large margin.
The government on Thursday last week fixed the maximum retail price of potatoes at Tk 36 per kg, eggs at Tk 12 each (Tk 144 a dozen) and locally grown onions at Tk 65 per kg. In a subsequent development, soybean and palm oil prices were reduced by Tk 4.0-5.0 per litre.
Branded bottle soybean oil was set at Tk 169 per litre, non-brand soybean at Tk 149 and palm oil at Tk 124 per litre on the day.
Earlier, sugar prices were set at Tk 130 per kilogram (non-brand) and Tk 135 per kilogram (branded).
Although egg and onion prices are still higher than the government-fixed rate, they have declined by at least Tk 8.0-10 per dozen or kilogram, respectively, in the last three days, according to city groceries.
Eggs were selling at Tk 12.5-12.7 per piece (Tk 150-152 a dozen), while local onions were priced at Tk 75-80 per kilogram - reflecting a Tk 8.0-10 decline since the Ministry of Commerce announcement on Thursday.
Non-brand sugar was still selling at Tk 140-145 per kilogram, while city groceries were almost out of branded sugar supplies.
Potato prices in retail maintained their previous high, with diamant variety being sold at Tk 48-50 and cardinal at Tk 50-55 per kilogram against the government-fixed rates of Tk 36 per kilogram.
Meanwhile, 37 teams from the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection conducted drives in 52 markets across 35 districts on Sunday. The consumer rights directorate teams fined 82 companies and individuals Tk 0.35 million for price manipulations.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Secretary Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan said the president of the Bangladesh Cold Storage Association himself admitted that traders are behind the surging potato prices.
The commerce ministry has already obtained data and details of the potato stocks held by traders in the cold storages, he said.
He mentioned that both the consumer rights directorate and the Bangladesh Competition Commission (BCC) filed several cases against leading companies for distorting the market between February and September 2022. Many companies were found guilty of manipulating markets for eggs, chicken, sugar, flour, toiletries and other items.
He also said the competition commission recently filed complaints against some leading companies for distorting the markets for eggs, water, and toiletries. However, so far, hardly any company has been brought under the law despite such allegations.
Apart from strict market monitoring, he said ensuring exemplary punishment for market manipulators is crucial to maintaining control over the volatile market.
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