TCB plans to check price spiral during Ramzan

Anisul Islam Noor :
Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has taken all out preparations to check price spiraling of the essential commodities during the coming holy Ramzan.
Some businessmen make huge profits by price escalation in the month of Ramzan here. So, TCB has taken preparation to check hike in price of essential commodities that the consumers use most during the holy month, TCB official said.
Humayun Kabir, Senior Deputy Executive of TCB, said that they had sufficient commodities in hand to meet increased demand.
“Ahead of the Ramzan likely to start from the last week of June, we have stored oil, sugar, gram, date and lentil in a large volume”, he said.
Earlier, at a recent programme with the country’s business leaders at TCB building, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed asked the importers to remain alert against price hike.
Sources said that the corporation has stored five types of commodities namely oil, sugar, lentil, date and gram ahead of the holy month. It will sell these items through 3,012 dealers across the country. Like the previous year, the corporation will also sell commodities on 174 open trucks in different districts.
The TCB will launch a drive of selling these commodities from 15 days ahead of Ramzan, TCB sources informed.
TCB sources said that it had sold around 7,000 tonnes of sugar, 1450 tonnes of edible oil, 2400 tonnes of lentil, 1500 tonnes of gram and 60 tonnes of date during the month last year. It also sold about 10,500 tonnes of sugar, 1900 tonnes of oil, 1600 tonnes of lentil, 1365 tonnes of gram and 313 tonnes of date during the month of Ramzan in the year 2012, according to information.
“We increased our stocks of these items considering people demand”, said the TCB official.