Govt plans crackdown on unscrupulous traders
Friday, 28 August 2009
Sheikh Shahariar Zaman
The government is planning to crack down on unscrupulous traders who are making abnormal profit at the cost of common people by sending mobile courts to markets, said sources.
"The four monitoring teams worked this week and found irregularities in the market," an official of the commerce ministry said.
The teams did not fine or penalise anybody as they did not have any magisterial power but from the next week, all the teams will have magistrates with them, and fine whoever they find engaged in wrongdoing, he said.
The main problem the teams face is that the traders are reluctant to provide true information, he added.
"When the teams ask the traders about prices they do not say the actual price," the official said.
It is also difficult to verify the prices quoted by the traders, he said.
About sugar price, he said the four refiners have agreed to sell sugar at Tk 42 per kg at 10 different points in Dhaka city.
"They contacted the ministry and said they will start selling packet sugar from Saturday," he said.
The price of sugar increased by Tk 6.0 per kg in one week and Tk 10 in one month despite all government efforts to rein in the price of the most sought after commodity in Ramadan.
Refiners claimed they are selling the product at Tk 39 at the mill gate but wholesalers alleged the refiners are trying to create artificial crisis by releasing less quantities in the market.
The government has withdrawn duty on unrefined sugar and fixed the mill-gate price of sugar at Tk 39 per kg and retail price at Tk 42, but now it sells between Tk 46 and Tk 48 per kg at the retail end.
Sugar imports stood at about 0.2 million tonnes up to August 17 and another import of 0.1 million tonnes is in the pipeline, said another official of the commerce ministry.
"There is ample supply of the product as on an average consumption per month is about 0.1 million tonnes and in Ramadan the demand soars to 0.15 million tonnes," he said.
The import cost of the sugar was about Tk 24 per kg, and tax and production costs were Tk 10 maximum, he added.
"The refiners could make profit even if they sold it at Tk 35," he explained adding they are now selling it at Tk 39.
The deputy commissioner's office at Narayanganj received allegations the refiners are not delivering enough sugar and thus creating an artificial crisis, the official said.
"The commerce ministry will soon send a letter to the DC office to investigate the matter and monitor the supply situation at the mill gates as all the sugar refineries are located in Narayanganj," he said.
The refiners after a meeting with Commerce Minister Faruk Khan on Wednesday said they urged the government to strengthen the monitoring and arrest those engaged in price manipulation.
City Group, Meghna Group, Deshbandhu and Igloo are the four biggest sugar refiners in the country.
The government is planning to crack down on unscrupulous traders who are making abnormal profit at the cost of common people by sending mobile courts to markets, said sources.
"The four monitoring teams worked this week and found irregularities in the market," an official of the commerce ministry said.
The teams did not fine or penalise anybody as they did not have any magisterial power but from the next week, all the teams will have magistrates with them, and fine whoever they find engaged in wrongdoing, he said.
The main problem the teams face is that the traders are reluctant to provide true information, he added.
"When the teams ask the traders about prices they do not say the actual price," the official said.
It is also difficult to verify the prices quoted by the traders, he said.
About sugar price, he said the four refiners have agreed to sell sugar at Tk 42 per kg at 10 different points in Dhaka city.
"They contacted the ministry and said they will start selling packet sugar from Saturday," he said.
The price of sugar increased by Tk 6.0 per kg in one week and Tk 10 in one month despite all government efforts to rein in the price of the most sought after commodity in Ramadan.
Refiners claimed they are selling the product at Tk 39 at the mill gate but wholesalers alleged the refiners are trying to create artificial crisis by releasing less quantities in the market.
The government has withdrawn duty on unrefined sugar and fixed the mill-gate price of sugar at Tk 39 per kg and retail price at Tk 42, but now it sells between Tk 46 and Tk 48 per kg at the retail end.
Sugar imports stood at about 0.2 million tonnes up to August 17 and another import of 0.1 million tonnes is in the pipeline, said another official of the commerce ministry.
"There is ample supply of the product as on an average consumption per month is about 0.1 million tonnes and in Ramadan the demand soars to 0.15 million tonnes," he said.
The import cost of the sugar was about Tk 24 per kg, and tax and production costs were Tk 10 maximum, he added.
"The refiners could make profit even if they sold it at Tk 35," he explained adding they are now selling it at Tk 39.
The deputy commissioner's office at Narayanganj received allegations the refiners are not delivering enough sugar and thus creating an artificial crisis, the official said.
"The commerce ministry will soon send a letter to the DC office to investigate the matter and monitor the supply situation at the mill gates as all the sugar refineries are located in Narayanganj," he said.
The refiners after a meeting with Commerce Minister Faruk Khan on Wednesday said they urged the government to strengthen the monitoring and arrest those engaged in price manipulation.
City Group, Meghna Group, Deshbandhu and Igloo are the four biggest sugar refiners in the country.