Another pricier Ramadan imminent

Consumers' spending on sugar, date, pulses, potato, and onion would be 20.0- 225-percent higher this Ramadan compared to that of last year.
Rice prices have also risen by 5.0-6.0 per cent, intensifying owes of the commoners.
Prices of red meat, chicken, eggs, edible oil and flour, however, are almost static or to some extent lesser compared to last Ramadan, according market insiders.
Though soybean oil prices have started declining amid the government's intervention to slice the price by Tk10 a litre, costs of other essentials remained still at their previous highs.
Despite a decline in import duty of sugar and date by the government, prices of the two essentials are still much higher, according to market sources.
Sugar is being retailed at Tk150-165 a kg now which was Tk135-140 a kg in the corresponding period of the last year, Md Farid, a salesman at Bismillah Store in West Dhanmondi, said.
He said wholesale prices have increased by Tk5.0-6.0 a kg in last one month.
Sugar price is 22-23 per cent higher now compared to that of last year, according to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) data.
Farid said prices of date have increased by 20-30 per cent this year.
"We bought medium quality packed date at Tk525-540 from Badamtoli a week back and are selling those at Tk600 a kg," he said.
Meanwhile, retail price of onion shot up to Tk110-130 a kg this harvesting season marking 225 per cent hike than a year back, said TCB.
Rice prices have showed a hike of Tk4.0-5.0 per kg while aromatic rice prices showed Tk10-12 a kg surge in a year.
Most of the companies have set maximum retail price (MRP) of aromatic kalijira and chinigura rice at Tk175-180 per one kg packet, said Farid.
Johurul Alam, an edible oil distributor at Rayerbazar in the city, said companies started delivering one litre bottled soybean oil with new price tag from Sunday evening.
He also said some groceries could get new bottles from Sunday night while others could avail it from Monday.
The government on February 20 last revised bottled soybean oil price to Tk163 a litre from Tk 173 earlier which was set to be implemented from March 1.
Prices of loose soybean oil were also slashed by Tk10 and were fixed at Tk149 a litre.
Alam said loose soybean oil prices were cut down to Tk155 a litre from Tk160 earlier.
However, TCB data showed different kinds of pulses are 14-24 per cent higher this March compared to that of last year.
Finer lentil is being sold at Tk160-165 a kg, finer mung bean Tk 180-200, chickpea Tk110-130 and khesari Tk 120-140 a kg this year.
Prices of potato have declined by 40-45 per cent in last two weeks but it is still 30-35 per cent higher than that of last year, Delowar Hossain, a grocer at Zigatola, said.
He said they were retailing potato at Tk 35-45 a kg depending on quality.
Delowar said prices of onion and potato might decline during the Ramadan as harvest of the seasonal crops would increase many folds from the mid-March.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) secretary Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan said though flour prices are a little bit lesser this March compared to last year, companies raised prices of the item by Tk 6.0-10 a kg just in last one and a half months despite a record fall in import costs.
He said prices of flour-made food products are still 20-25 per cent higher now than a year ago.
He added only potato and edible oil showed some decline in recent weeks but prices of all essentials reached their peak long before the Ramadan.
He said prices of onion jumped to Tk 130 a kg from Tk 60 despite a handsome production of seed onion in December and January amid lack of effective market monitoring as well as exemplary punishment for wrongdoers.
He said: "The government should start the formalities to import 50,000 tonnes of onion and 0.15 million tonnes of sugar from India as per the neighbouring country's recent assurance".
"And effective market monitoring on a regular basis must be a priority for government agencies to provide consumers with some relief," he added.

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