Prices of four essential items have increased inexplicably while other commodities are showing a normal trend in the markets ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, officials and traders said.
They said prices of chickpea, muri (puffed rice), date palm and sugar have marked a sharp rise in the market.
It has become a very usual trend that prices of essentials, especially the most items that are in demand, increase every year in the month of Ramadan. Traders target this month to make a windfall profit.
"Chickpea, pulse powder (besan), muri (a kind of puffed rice), date palm, brinjal, cucumber, tomato, chilli, onion, ginger, coriander leaf, fragrant rice, edible oil, sugar, milk, chicken, beef and fruits are the key essential items in Ramadan," an official at the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) told the FE.
He said prices of these items always increase in Ramadan compared to that of the normal time.
"And among those, chickpea, onion, edible oil, brinjal, muri, date palm and sugar are most targeted items of the traders," he said.
"Import cost of best quality chickpea is now not more than Tk 45 per kg and the price is static in the global market for the last six months," he said.
"But the price has been increased much ahead of Ramadan this year. The price of best quality chickpea is Tk 65-70 per kg which was Tk 54-55 three weeks back" he said.
He said prices of date palm and muri have also increased abnormally in the last few days.
"Sugar price also increased significantly despite the fact that import cost was lower and stock was very good," he said.
"However, prices of most other essentials are static in the market," he said.
Prithiraj Karmaker, a muri-chira (puffed rice varieties) vendor at Rasulpur Bazar in Kamrangir Char area said prices of muri (normal variety) increased to Tk 60-65 per kg which was Tk 45-50 per kg at retail level some ten days back," he said.
"The wholesalers are charging Tk 58-60 per kg now which was Tk 40-42 a few days back," he said.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) secretary Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan told the FE that traders have increased the prices of a few items much earlier this year without any reason.
"Raising prices much earlier is a trick of the traders to avoid any Ramadan related blames," he said.
"The commerce ministry's monitoring cell should start its operation from now to give the consumers some relief in Ramadan set to start from last week of the current month", he added.
Meanwhile, a pre-Ramadan meeting was held at the commercial capital of the country Chittagong Wednesday organised by the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI).
The big importers of the country at the meeting announced that the consumers would not see any price hike during the holy month, as there were sufficient stocks of essential items in the wholesale market.
The importers and traders said 42,000 tonnes of chickpeas, 45,000 tonnes of sugar, 11,000 tonnes of edible oil and 12,000 tonnes of other peas were imported by them in just 10 days.
Besides, there was a good stock of such commodities in the port-city's wholesale markets, they informed.
However, Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), the state- run importer and distributor has also started its market operation.
The TCB is now selling four types of commodities that include sugar, soybean oil, lentils and grams through dealers at 175 selling centres by the same number of trucks across the country since June 10 last.
Of the 175 points, 26 are in Dhaka city, 10 in Chittagong city, five in each of the rest five divisional cities and two in each of the remaining districts across the country.
The corporation is selling per kg of sugar at Tk 40, lentil Tk 65, chickpea Tk 44 and per litre of bottled soybean oil between Tk 106 and Tk 107. It will start selling dates one week before the start of Ramadan. Per kg of date has been fixed at Tk 70.
