The price of essential commodities continued to surge on the day following the proposal of the national budget for FY2022-2023. Several commodities including the prices of edible oil, sugar, and exported vegetable have gone up and some more items might see a price hike soon, traders fear.
The prevailing situation has left both traders and consumers dismayed. Traders say that due to the rising price, retail shops are losing business. On the flip side, consumers say that despite no change in their incomes, their expenditure keeps increasing due to the surging commodity prices. This puts undue stress on the consumers.
Despite the drives against illegal rice hoarders, the price of rice remained as high as it was last week at different markets in Dhaka city.
Rice of good quality was being sold at Tk 64-72 per kg, the price of medium quality rice Tk 52-58, and lower quality rice Tk 48-52.
According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB)'s calculations, the price of rice has surged by 7.79 per cent as of Friday. Moreover, the price of fine rice has risen 10.57 per cent.
The price of soybean oil also went up another notch on Friday, as the commerce ministry has hiked the price of bottled soybean oil by Tk 7 per litre to Tk 205. Loose soybean oil price was hiked by Tk 5 per litre to Tk 185. However, the price of palm oil went down Tk 14 per litre. As per TCB's information, the price surge of edible oil stands at 87.65 per cent.
To facilitate the production of locally-grown agricultural products, the budget proposed keeping the prices of several vegetables such as carrot, turnip, chilli, tomato, and capsicum within a valid range. Due to this, the prices of exported carrots and tomatoes went up on Friday.
Carrot prices have risen by Tk 20 per kg in the last week, to Tk 170-180. On the other hand, ripe tomato prices have risen by Tk 10 per kg to Tk 70-80.
According to the proposed budget, the price of sugar is expected to go down as the finance minister proposed VAT exemption at the trading stage. However, there was no reflection of this in the price of sugar at the markets across Dhaka. The price of sugar went up by Tk 2 per kg to Tk 85 within the span of a week. The price surge of sugar was 13 per cent.
Mostafizur Rahman, a trader at Segunbagicha market, said, “the prices of edible oil and sugar went up over the last few days. As Eid-ul-Azha is coming up soon, the prices of spices have also surged. Dealers have cut down on supply as the price of oil will go up, so we couldn’t get oil even for a higher price.”
“When the budget proposes hiking the price of a commodity, the price rises quickly. But when the budget proposes lowering the price, it doesn’t happen fast. That’s why sugar is being sold at a hiked rate,” he added.
