Intracity price gap in commodities widening

Price gap in some major commodities within the city kitchen markets has been widening due to the absence of monitoring, according to insiders.
Prices of most essential commodities vary from one kitchen market to another, especially at the retail level, and the gap has been found upto 40 per cent.
Collecting retail price of eight commodities from 10 different city kitchen markets, the FE correspondent found prices to be set on the traders' wishes in many markets.
Prices differences of essentials like rice, edible oil, lentil, many vegetables, onion, chilli, poultry and other red meat were found from 9 per cent (rice) to 40 per cent (some vegetables) among the markets.
Many of the unscrupulous traders are taking the advantage of the current political situation to make huge profits, said sector insiders.
Newly harvested local onion varieties are being sold between Tk38 and 42 per kg at Newmarket, Nowabganjbazar, Azimpur, Fakirapul Bazar, Mirpur Section 1, 6, 10 and 11, Mohammadpur Krishi Market; but the same produces are being sold from Tk42 to Tk48 per kg at Hatirpool Bazar, Palashi Bazar, and Eskaton areas.
Potato of cardinal or granola varieties was sold at Tk12-15 per kg in most of the markets, which is Tk16-18 per kg at Hatirpool and Eskaton areas.
Rice prices have decreased significantly at the wholesale (Tk2-4 per kg, but its impact on retail prices in other kitchen markets was satisfactory (Tk1-2 per kg), except Hatirpool, Palashi, Shankar Bazar in Dhanmondi, where prices are still higher.     
Early varieties of pointed gourd, ridge gourd, snake gourds were sold from Tk45 to 60 per kg in most of the kitchen markets, which were traded at Tk60-70 per kg in Hatirpool, Eskaton, Palashi areas.  
However, price differences of poultry meat were found to be up to 15 per cent, mutton and beef 10 per cent, lentil 12 per cent, loose soybean oil 10 per cent in the markets.
Asked on the higher prices, Md Rafiqul Islam, a vegetable vendor at Hatirpool Bazar in the city, said they sell 'quality' products and charge higher than other markets.
He also said that prices of produces are higher at Karwan Bazar, Shyambazar and Moulovibazar wholesales following the ongoing blockade coupled with hartals.
Md Ahad Ali, a grocer at Palashi Bazar, said that they were selling products which they purchased last month.
"We will adjust the prices once our previous stock empties," he said.
Regarding higher prices of onion at his shop, he said that those cost him more as the quality is better.
Onion importer and owner of Nabin Traders at Shyambazar in the city Narayan Chandra Saha told the FE that prices of onion were on downtrend for the last 10 days.
He said they were selling the best quality onion Fardipuri variety (also known as Haali) at Tk33-35 per kg for the last seven days while a few other varieties were selling at below Tk28 per kg.       
President of Bangladesh Edible Oil Wholesale Merchants Association Mohammad Golam Moula said prices of soybean, super palm oil declined notably in the last two weeks as the supply from mills increased in recent times.
He said loose soybean oil should not be sold out more than by Tk102-104 per kg at retail.
He added that the market could be volatile anytime following supply disruption.    
Secretary of Consumers Association of Bangladesh Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan said that the absence of kitchen market monitoring has given traders the scope to fix prices at their whim. He said many opportunist traders are using the current political situation as their instrument to make windfall profits.  
"What are the 14 monitoring teams formed by the government doing?" he questioned.
Meanwhile, in a move to check the prices of essential commodities in the capital, the government formed 14 teams in July last year.
Each of the teams consists of nine members drawn from different ministries, government agencies and business associations.
Senior secretary of the ministry of commerce Hedayetullah Al Mamoon, said that a meeting was held in this regard on March 3 at the secretariat. He said the market is almost 'stable' now.
"The retailers have been ordered to receive cash-memo from the wholesalers so that the monitoring officials could know the difference between the retail and wholesale prices," he said.
"The price forecast cell has been formed under the ministry which is giving updates on demand, supply and prices for the next two months," he said.
He said that the ministry will further speed up its monitoring on the gaps among retail prices in different city markets.    
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