Consumers bear the brunt of price hike

Staff Reporter :
Consumers are bearing the brunt of price hike of daily essentials as they are struggling hard to keep their both ends meet with the limited income.
The major cooking items, they said, were going beyond their purchasing capacity every day as the market was not stable due to inadequate monitoring.
Whenever the government announces a new price of any daily essential, the sellers make it effective on the same breath, but when the price is reduced, it is not followed under different excuses.
Keeping consistency with the global market rate, the government reduced the rate of edible oil on Oct 3, but the consumers could not buy the soybean oil according to the new price of Tk 178 from Tk 192.
The Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vanaspati Manufacturers Association reduced the price of bottled soybean oil by Tk14 per litre.
Again the government reduced the price of per litre palm oil by Tk 8 on Thursday, to sell at Tk 125 per litre. But the new price has not been made effective yet.
On the other hand, as the sugar price has been increased by Tk 6 per kilogram, and it has been made effective.
Consumers alleged that they have become the hostage of the government and the sellers as there was no control and monitoring of the market which was being manipulated by invisible hands.
According to the Agriculture and Food Organisation, the prices of sugar, meat, milk and other milk products had gone up in the last six months and the prices of food grains are being stable gradually.
Meanwhile, the sellers in different kitchen markets in the capital and elsewhere in the country sold per kilogram of loose sugar at a price of Tk 90 while Soybean oil was Tk 190.
On the other hand, there is no respite from the sting of other kitchen items like fish, eggs and vegetables.
In different kitchen markets like Karwan Bazar, Mirpur-1, one kilogram of bitter gourd was sold at Tk 80, brinjal at Tk 80, parwal, okra and cucumber at Tk 60, tomato at Tk 140, carrot at Tk 120 – Tk130, papaya at Tk 30, string bean at Tk 60 – Tk70.
Before the advent of the winter season, some of the winter vegetables started arriving in the kitchen markets and were being sold at high prices.
One kilogram bean was sold at Tk 140 -Tk150, per piece cauliflower at Tk 50 while per
kilogram radish was sold at Tk 60. Even the prices of greens were also high. A bunch of red amaranth was sold at Tk 25, green amaranth at Tk 25 and Malabar spinach (Pui Shak) at Tk 30-35. One piece gourd was sold at Tk 50-Tk70 while Water Pumpkin (Jali Kumra) was sold at Tk 40-Tk50.
Eggs are the most pressing item on the dining tables as it mainly meets the growing demand of protein for many. But the prices of eggs are still very high, and consumers are compromising with egg consumption.
One dozen of layer eggs was sold at Tk145 – Tk150 while the duck egg has been increased by Tk 40 for one dozen selling at Tk 210.
The retailers said that they were buying from the wholesale market at high price which compelled them to sell at a high rate.
“We are helpless in the market. Everything is going beyond our purchasing capacity. We are now compromising with our nutrition level,” Jahanara Parwin, a school teacher, said, who was buying daily essentials from Karwan Bazar on Friday.
“If a price is up once, it does not decrease. Prices of many items in the world market are low but we don’t find any reflection of it here,” she added.
The prices of every item of fish were also high in the market, with an increase of Tk20 to Tk30 within a gap of one week.
One kilogram Telapia price was Tk 200, Rui Tk 250, Pangash Tk 160, Silver Carp Tk 140, Koi Tk 220-Tk250, catfish Tk 500 -Tk 750 and shrimp Tk 600 – TK 1200. The most coveted fish of the season Hilsha was sold at Tk 700 -Tk 750 and Tk 1200 to 1400 per kilogram.
The broiler price has been increased by Tk 10 per kilogram and it was sold at Tk 180 while layer price was Tk 300 and Sonali at Tk 320. Beef price was Tk 700 per kilogram and mutton at Tk 900.
The consumers said that market monitoring was of paramount importance to keep prices of essentials stable.
The reason of high price is the intervention of the middle men. They obstruct the producers of crops to sell direct to the wholesalers. As a result the produces do not make profit much, but they (middle men) gain much.