Commerce ministry to beef up commodities market monitoring

Following the recent price hike of essential commodities at the country’s kitchen markets, the Ministry of Commerce has decided to strengthen market monitoring, up to upazila level, to tame artificial supply crisis and price hikes.

Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh came up with the announcement following a meeting with manufacturers and traders of commodity products, at the ministry in Dhaka on Wednesday.

In a statement, the ministry said that the sales of essentials by the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) have been increased 2.5 times to meet the demands of low-income people.

“Monitoring will be boosted to ensure that imported products are being traded in the local market in line with the international market rate,” the commerce secretary said.

Saying that the reserve and supply of commodities in the country remains normal, he also said the ministry and Directorate of Consumers Right Protections will also beef up drives to monitor the market.

Bangladesh Competition Commission Chairperson and former senior secretary Md Mofizul Islam, Director General of Directorate of Consumers Rights Protection Babul Kumar Saha, Commerce Ministry Additional Secretary Md Hafizur Rahman, Additional Secretary (IIT) AHM Shafiquzzaman, FBCCI Senior Vice President Mostofa Azad Chowdhury, TCB Chairman Brig Gen Md Ariful Hasan, among others, attended the meeting.

Prices of commodities, including sugar, rice and edible oil, witnessed a sudden increase in the last few days.

The price of sugar rose between Tk 78 and TK 80. Price of loose soyabean oil stood at around Tk 130 to Tk 135 and palm oil at TK 118 to Tk 120.
Coarse rice was being sold between Tk 48 to Tk 50 and fine rice between Tk 60 to Tk 70.

Earlier, the government decreased import tax on rice to 25 per cent from 62 per cent to tame its rising prices.