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A good number of visitors have been thronging the Amar Ekushey Book Fair since the beginning but sales of books are very low compared to the number of visitors.
Book lovers are returning with half of the books they targeted to purchase as they are calculating a lot before buying a book to survive the ongoing economic crisis.
The fairgrounds at Suhrawardy Udyan and Bangla Academy were full of visitors on Saturday. The book lovers were seen flocking to the stalls of creative books and children's books.
Kabita Rani, a private job holder, came to the fair from Narayanganj. She said, “I used to purchase many books from the book fair in previous years. This year I am obliged to cut my budget for the fair as I am a sufferer of ongoing inflation.”
The publishers assume that the bibliophiles have cut their budget for purchasing books amid soaring inflation and skyrocketing commodity prices in the country.
The book prices have increased significantly which is a major reason behind the low sales.
According to the data of the Bangladesh Publishers & Book-Sellers Association, book prices have gone up by 22 per cent compared to last year while paper prices have doubled.
This has affected bibliophiles’ book purchasing budget this year sharply.
Md Sohel, a sales executive at Prothoma Prokashon, said that the number of visitors is huge but the sales are very low.
“The soaring inflation and skyrocketing commodity prices in the country have forced the consumers to cut expenditures in many areas of life. They are avoiding unnecessary purchases to survive,” he added.
Sonjoy Pandey, marketing officer of Bishwo Shahitto Kendro, said that the price of books has gone up due to increased paper prices. “The people are not making the normal purchase due to increased prices of books. They are purchasing half of the books they intended to collect,” he added.
Sales at the stalls with many new publications were comparatively better. But, the number of publications has declined this year due to increased paper prices. The publishers are calculating deeply before publishing the books.
According to officials of the Bangladesh Publishers & Book-Sellers Association, around 5000 books were published in 2022 and this year the number may reduce to half.
However, despite the high inflation and the increase in book prices, the publishers are optimistic about good sales in the coming days of the fair.
They said that this year, many people are visiting the fair compared to the previous two years when it was organised amid the pandemic. Those who have a thirst for knowledge will purchase books anyway, defying all economic challenges.
Informing that the publishers incurred huge losses in the last two years, Shamal Paul, convener of the Amar Ekushey Book Fair Standing Committee, said, “We are hopeful this year as a growing number of visitors are coming to the fair. Hopefully, the sales will also witness gradual growth in the coming days. Those who have passion for knowledge will purchase books at any cost.”
“We are hoping to sell books worth around Tk 50 crore this year,” he added.
