Essentials get costlier in Ctg

CHATTOGRAM, Apr 02: Prices of essentials continued to spiral up in the port city last week despite the government's claim that its vigilance teams were monitoring markets round-the-clock to rein in price hike during Ramadan.
Visiting different kitchen markets in city on Saturday, this correspondent found that prices of green chilli rose by Tk 30-40 per kilogram (kg), that of cucumber by at least Tk 20 and beef Tk 150 per kg over the last seven days.
Retailers told the FE that they were selling green chilli at Tk 140-150 per kg based on quality, which was Tk 100-120 a week back.
Besides, one kilogram of cucumber was selling at Tk 50-60, up from Tk 30-40 seven days ago while beef, one of the main sources of protein, was selling at Tk 750-800, which was Tk 600-650 a couple of weeks ago.
Chicken, another source of protein, also got dearer by Tk-10-20 per kg during the period.
However, high officials at the local administration said on Friday there were no supply crunch of essentials in the markets and there is no reason for price hike ahead of Ramadan.
"There is no shortage of essentials on the wholesale or retail market in the port city. So, there is no reason for the price hike of essential commodities during Ramadan," said Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Chattogram Md Mominur Rahman.
Wholesalers at different city markets have claimed that prices of essentials were not too high and they were not involved in any plot to hike the prices during Ramadan.
On the other hand, retailers have blamed the wholesalers for the price hike.
Kamrul Islam, a retailer at the city's Karnaphuli Complex, said, "We're not making a huge profit but selling the essentials at a price 2 or 3 taka higher per kg than the wholesale prices."
On Friday, chicken (farm) was selling at Tk 170 per kg, local chicken at Tk 450 while Sonali variety at Tk 350 a kg.
Meanwhile, edible oil and ginger, two main ingredients for Iftar and Sehri items, also became costlier.
Local varieties of ginger retailed at Tk 60-65, at least Tk 4-5 costlier than two weeks ago. Imported (Chinese) ginger was selling at Tk 80-90 a kg on Friday.
Loose edible oil was selling at Tk 170 a kg and sugar at Tk 80-85.
The buyers alleged that the traders have adopted a new policy for hiking prices of essential commodities. The traders have started hiking the prices of essentials from the second week of the last month, they noted.
DC Mominur Rahman said, "We are very alert to the price hike of essentials. We held several rounds of meetings with leaders of Consumers Association of Bangladesh, law enforcers and other officials, businessmen and different trade body leaders in this regard. We have formed a 17-member committee to monitor the market. The committee went into action on March 15."
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