Resolve sugar crisis

The sugar market has been volatile for past several months. Traders are blaming mill owners, while mill owners are blaming the insufficiency of gas supply. But what do the consumers do? The government has fixed the retail price of sugar at Tk 99 per kg, which is being sold at Tk 120. What is more alarming is that many stores in Dhaka city have run out of sugar.
The annual demand for sugar in Bangladesh is 2.5 million tonnes. The local mills produce only 100,000 tonnes and the rest is imported. But in the past one year, imports fell significantly due to the ongoing dollar crisis. Banks are reluctant to open letters of credit for sugar imports and the duty is also high. Sugar production in the mills is also decreasing due to low supply of gas. There is no easy solution to the current crisis. The authorities concerned should increase the amount of sugar sold at low price through the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) so that the poor do not suffer.

Badsha Faysal,
Jurain, Dhaka,
badshafaysal1998@gmail.com