In a major shift towards predictive market governance, the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has formed a 20-member, high-powered committee to prepare a roadmap for integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into commodity market surveillance and policymaking.
According to a ministry order issued on July 21, the committee will develop an AI-based system to analyse real-time market data, forecast shortages of essential commodities, monitor supply chain disruptions, and detect abnormal price movements.
The commerce secretary will chair the panel, with the deputy secretary (IIT-1) serving as the member secretary.
Officials say the initiative aims to replace the current reactive approach with a data-driven predictive system, enabling timely government intervention before prices spike.
The committee will also assess the technical feasibility of AI deployment and prepare an implementation roadmap covering production, imports, distribution, and retail markets.
The proposed platform will integrate real-time data on domestic and global commodity prices, production, demand, stocks, imports, logistics, and weather to generate predictive analytics for market management.
The committee includes representatives from key ministries and agencies, Bangladesh Bank, National Board of Revenue (NBR), Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission (BTTC), Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP), Bangladesh Competition Commission (BCC), Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), and Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI).
Experts say the AI-driven system could improve early detection of hoarding, supply shortages, and inflationary risks, strengthening evidence-based market regulation and digital economic governance.
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