Prices of all items but sugar, ginger falling Zillur

Commerce Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman said Sunday excepting sugar and ginger, prices of all essential items like rice, lentils, wheat, flour and onions were on the downturn, reports UNB. brPrices of all other items are also stable, and it is certain that there is no apprehension of any danger if the flood does not prolong, he told reporters after a meeting at the commerce ministry on the price situation, especially following government's market intervention for Ramadan and lean season.brBased on official forecast, he expressed the hope that floodwaters would be receding from Tuesday and the situation would be getting better.brThe commerce adviser said the government was now contemplating suspending OMS operations in North Bengal area, known as the country's granary in good times of farming. brThe Ministry of Commerce convened the meeting for a review of the market situation amid holy Ramadan where top officials of Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) and the Food Directorate were present.brDr Zillur, however, admitted that prices of sugar and ginger had increased a bit.brAbout the rice price, he said it was falling and it was observed that the queues of the commoners in front of the open-market sale (OMS) shops were not as they had been in the past. brIn many places, OMS shops could not sell all the allocated quantities of rice and they had to return 30-40 per cent unsold rice, he said.brIn Dhaka city, the OMS shops could sell full allocations only in Adabar area, he added. brHe noted that the Food Directorate had 1.187 million tonnes of rice in its stock. brHe mentioned that high prices of some products in the neighbouring countries had an impact on the local market. But this year, India had produced 1.6 million tonnes of additional rice, which had a positive impact on the local market, he noted.brDr Zillur said the government would disburse every day Tk 200 million from September 15 to help poor people under a 100-day programme for which total allocation was Tk 20 billion. A total of 2.0 million people would be benefited from the programme taken for the lean period when scarcity of work prevailed.brAt this moment, the government's biggest challenge is to give attention to the poor people and ensure adequate supply of essentials to the market to keep it stable, he observed.brHe admitted that there was some sort of big gap between the prices in the retail and wholesale markets -- a hiatus created by profiteers.brBut he observed that apart from the responsibility of the government, others had also the responsibility to maintain stability on the market.br