Sugar prices remain unchanged despite government intervention

The government’s move to fix sugar prices had no immediate impact on the kitchen markets of the capital on Friday.

Visiting the different kitchen markets on Friday, The Business Post found that traders were ignoring the government directive and selling sugar at Tk 78 to Tk 80 per kg.

Several traders at the capital’s Farmgate area said that they could not follow the government-fixed prices as the prices were high when they bought the commodity.

They said they would sell sugar as per the new prices after clearing their current stocks.

According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) data, sugar was being sold at Tk 75-80 per kg on Friday in the kitchen markets.

The government on Thursday set new prices for unpacked and packaged sugar for the first time. The maximum retail price of a kg of unpacked sugar was fixed at Tk 74, down from Tk 80. On the other hand, the price of packaged sugar was set at Tk 75 from Tk 85.

“We are selling loose sugar at Tk 63 per kg and packaged sugar at Tk 75 per kg. But, as we are producing very little quantity of sugar, so we only supply sugar to the police, army and government organisations,” Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation’s Chief of Marketing Mohammed Majhar-Ul-Haq-Khan said.

City Group Director Bishwajit Saha said that new price of sugar would be effective in the capital’s market from Sunday.

“As many traders have sugar in stock which they bought at higher prices, consumers will find the new prices of sugar effective from Sunday,” he added.

The government’s decision came after the retail market price of loose sugar reached Tk 80 per kg.

Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB) President Golam Rahman welcomed the decision. “The government needs to monitor the market so that price remains steady.”

Meanwhile, the price of vegetables had increased by Tk 5 to 10 per kg in the capital due to low supply.

Ladies finger were being sold at Tk 50-55 a kg, up by Tk 5; cucumber at Tk 50-60 a kg, up by Tk 10; long beans at Tk 60-80 a kg, up by Tk 15; bottle gourds at Tk 45-50 based on size, up by Tk 5; snake gourds at Tk 40-50 a kg, up by Tk 10, and brinjal at Tk 50-60 a kg, up by Tk 10.

Price remained steady for medium-sized pointed gourd at Tk 35-40 a kg, green papaya at Tk 20-25 a kg, potato at Tk 20-25, and green chilli at Tk 70-80.

Meanwhile, beans became cheaper at Tk 120-140 a kg, down by Tk 20-30, and tomato at Tk 80-90 a kg, down by at Tk 10-20.

“The prices of vegetables are higher than the last week due to a lack in adequate supply,” said Mohammed Afjal Hossain, a vegetable vendor at Farmgate.

Meanwhile, the prices of fish and other essentials remained stable on Friday compared to the last week.