Daily commodities to see price hike

General people have become apprehensive because traders are saying that the prices of daily essentials are set to rise as transport costs will increase due to the latest fuel price hike.

The data of 57 commodities listed by the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) shows that the prices of 51 products on August 6 were higher than the prices recorded on the same date last year.

Between August 2021 and August 2022, the prices of various daily essentials, including rice, edible oil, onion, pulses, spices and vegetables, have increased up to 61 per cent.

Traders and experts have said that the prices of food products and non-food consumer goods will definitely increase as the fuel price hike will push up the transport costs.

Md Dipu, a wholesale vegetable seller at Dhaka city’s Karwan Bazar, on Saturday told The Business Post that the prices of vegetables, which are arriving from different parts of the country every day, are already high due to heavy rains and recent floods.

“On top of that, now fuel prices have gone up. This will increase the transport costs. In November last year, when the diesel price rose by 23 per cent, the fare had gone up by Tk 4,000-5,000 per truck.

“This time it will increase even more. This additional cost will push up the prices of vegetables,” he said.

The government announced the new tariffs on Friday night. Diesel and kerosene retail prices have been fixed at Tk 114 per litre while octane will now cost Tk 135 per litre and petrol Tk 130.

For diesel, its price has gone up by Tk 34 per litter — a 42.5 per cent hike from the previous Tk 80. The price hike has come at a time when people, particularly from the lower- and middle-income groups, are already struggling with the skyrocketing commodity prices.

Talking to this correspondent at the Mugdapara kitchen market, garment factory worker Farida Parveen expressed concern saying, “The prices of all daily commodities have been increasing lately due to various reasons.

“If prices go up again as a result of the fuel price hike, general people like us will be in more serious problems. How will we bear the family expenses when our earnings are not increasing but the prices of essentials keep rising?” she asked.

Consumers at various kitchen markets around the capital also expressed the same concern while talking to this correspondent on Saturday.

No stopping the transport cost rise

Kawsar Azam, a wholesaler at Babu Bazar rice market and the vice president of Bangladesh Rice Merchants Association, said the rice price already increased by Tk 4 over the past month.

“According to our calculation, increased transport cost due to this fuel price hike may push up the rice price by at least Tk 1 per kg in total — Tk 0.50 per kg at the wholesale level and over Tk 0.50 at the retail level,” he said.

He said that transport fares had gone up to Tk 7,000 when the fuel price was hiked last November.

Talking to The Business Post, Consumers Association of Bangladesh Vice President SM Najer Hossain said the rising prices of daily commodities have already affected the livelihood of people.

“This fuel price hike will definitely increase the cost of transportation of all types of goods and because of that traders will raise the prices of all products and services. In the end, the consumers will only suffer,” he added. Weighing in on the issue, Centre for Policy Dialogue’s Research Director Dr Khondaker Golam Moazzem said, “Bangladesh’s market is not fair or competitive. When the prices of goods rise, they rise exponentially but they do not go down properly when the time comes to drop the prices.

“The latest fuel tariff hike will only push up the prices of all consumer goods abnormally, instead of the rates they are supposed to rise.”

“This will heavily affect production and the whole supply chain,” he added.