Sales of consumer goods drop at Chaktai-Khatunganj market

Sales of consumer goods have dropped at the Chattogram’s Chaktai-Khatunganj market, the country's largest consumer goods market.

Traders said sales had dropped by at least a third. They said sales of almost all the products had plummeted.

Almost a week has passed after the Eid-ul-Azha holiday but the market situation has not returned to normalcy. The traders expected the sales to increase soon.

This reporter on Wednesday found a thin crowd on the main road of Khatunganj although it always remains crowded.

There has been a very little sale since the vacation of Eid, Sulaiman Badsha, a commission agent and wholesaler said.

This week's sales have almost halved or one-third compared to that of what is sold usually, he said.

"We have sufficient stock of all kinds of daily essential products and the prices are relatively low but there are not sufficient buyers," he said.

Sulaiman Badsha, who has been doing business in Khatunganj for more than two decades, also thinks that customers may have decreased due to economic crisis.

Meanwhile, soybean oil was being sold at Tk5, 800 per maund at the wholesale market on Wednesday while its price was Tk7, 000 before Eid.

Indian wheat was being sold at Tk1, 400-1,420 per maund, which was Tk100 less than the pre-Eid price. Sugar was selling at Tk2, 800 per maund, which was Tk50 less than it was during Eid vacation.

The price of edible oil has been adjusted by the government due to the decrease in the price in the international market.

The prices of other products have also been reduced by the traders themselves but still there are complaints of selling products at higher prices at retail level.

Alamgir Parvez, proprietor of RM Enterprise, a major importer of consumer goods in Khatunganj, said the demand for all products is on the decline. The demand for edible oil has decreased significantly.

The reason for the decrease in demand for consumer goods is not clear, he said. Normally, if price falls there is no rush among buyers to buy goods as they think the price will drop further.

Due to the drop in the price of edible oil in the international market, the government has reduced the price of bottled edible oil to Tk185 from Tk199 but at the retail level there are complaints that in many places oil is selling at the previous price.

However, on condition of anonymity, a trader said they were selling bulk soybean oil at a lower price than the government-fixed price due to reduced sales.

Mohammad Foyez Ullha, Deputy Director of the Directorate of Consumer Rights Protection, said the prices of products were not increasing

due to lack of buyers though in some places edible oil was being sold at a lower price than the government-fixed price.

In some areas of the city, edible oil was being sold at Tk160 per kg at retail level while the price set by the government was Tk166, he said.