Restaurant business leaders underscored that the businesses are yet to overcome the impact of Covid-19 pandemic while price hike trend made operations of their business costly. The food price inflation has decreased 30 per cent customers in the sector, they said.
Leaders of the Bangladesh Restaurant Owners Association (BROA) came up with the remarks at a press conference marking the 35th central executive council meeting of the association held at Police Convention Hall in Dhaka on Saturday.
They placed various demands including the lowering of prices for all essential restaurant ingredients such as fish, meat, and eggs, orchestrating a collaborative effort among government agencies to combat elevated inflation, ending undue VAT tax collection pressures, aligning gas bill payments with commercial rates, and shedding light on meat imports.
At the meeting, Osman Gani and Imran Hasan were re-elected president and secretary general respectively of BROA.
They expressed their perplexity at the lack of a reasonable explanation for the meat’s elevated cost in comparison to other countries. “While it’s been suggested that animal prices, exorbitant market fees, and road tolls contribute to the meat price surge, these explanations hold little resonance for us, the small-scale traders. Our primary desire is to procure meat at a more affordable rate, which underscores the imperative of facilitating imports”, they said.
They also raised a query: if the meat price surge is indeed grounded in rational factors, why does it experience an abrupt reduction during the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) operations.
In a written statement, secretary General of Bangladesh Restaurant Owners Association Imran Hasan said, “An unchecked surge in prices has gripped numerous essentials, encompassing fish, meat, eggs, potatoes, and onions. The upward trajectory of commodity prices serves as a catalyst for the prevailing high inflation, a situation that’s causing considerable hardship for common people.
Inflation has persistently exceeded 8 per cent over the recent months, with a notable 9.74 per cent recorded in the preceding June. This erosion of purchasing power among the general populace significantly reverberates within the restaurant sector.”
A substantial blow akin to a ‘fatal strike’ has been dealt to the already pandemic-impacted restaurant industry, with daily sales plummeting by a significant 30 per cent. Given this dire scenario, imperative measures must be taken to exercise effective market control over prices. Hence, it becomes paramount to grant permission for the import of beef, goat, and poultry, he added.
In response to a question he said while inflation has receded in country like Sri Lanka, regrettably, Bangladesh continues to experience an upward trajectory in this regard. Notably, the cost of broiler chicken surged just yesterday, raising concerns that this product might once again escalate to anomalous price levels.
We have consistently advocated for meat imports, underscoring the fact that fish, meat, chicken, and eggs constitute a significant 40 per cent of the fundamental ingredients in our restaurant operations. Failing to bring down the costs of these essential items could potentially jeopardize the viability of our industry, especially considering the existing 30 per cent decline in sales, he said.
He also said that in addition to exerting control over the prevailing market syndicate for everyday goods, our plea encompasses an appeal to instigate price reduction through duty exemptions. Simultaneously, we are urging for distribution of daily commodities at subsidized prices to the restaurant sector through TCB.
Feroz Alam Suman, joint secretary of the association, among others, was present at council meeting and press briefing.
