Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will start selling essential commodities at subsidised rates on Thursday as part of its sales drive for the month of September to ease the sufferings of lower-income people due to growing inflation.
The state-run agency will sell essential items, including lentils and edible oil to 10 million family cardholders across the country.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi will formally inaugurate the drive in the capital’s Farmgate area adjacent to Khamarbari, said a press release issued by TCB.
However, due to a supply shortage, TCB will not sell sugar this month as well. The sales of sugar through TCB remained suspended for the past five months because of the price volatility in the domestic market. Five months ago, a cardholder could also purchase one kg of sugar at Tk 70. TCB had been selling only lentils and edible oil since May.
On the other hand, rice provided by the Food Ministry has been added to the TCB list of products and is being sold from July this year.
Under the Open Market Sales (OMS) programme, each of the 10 million cardholders can purchase a maximum of five kilograms of rice at Tk 30 per kg, two litres of edible oil at Tk 200 and 2 kgs of lentil at Tk 120.
According to the TCB daily market data, lentil was being sold at Tk 90-95 per kg, soybean oil at Tk 179 per litre and loose sugar at Tk 130-135 per kilogram in the retail markets showing a 48 per cent hike compared to last year.
The country’s monthly demand for sugar is 1.75 lakh tonnes and most of it is imported through the local refineries. Out of the total amount, TCB use to sell 10,000 tonnes of sugar every month.
Distributors will conduct the sales activities as per the scheduled date and time with the cooperation of the City Corporations and district and upazila administrations, it added.
