Consumers continue to suffer from price hikes

Business Desk :
Consumers were still unable to get relief from rising prices in the capital’s kitchen markets, forcing them to be extremely thrifty when purchasing essential commodities.
Volatility in the sugar market has not stopped yet, while prices of chicken and eggs also increased in the past week.
Adding to that, prices of both wheat flour (atta) and all-purpose flour (maida) had also started to rise again.
Retail prices of unpackaged atta and maida in the kitchen markets increased by Tk2-Tk5 per kg within a week.
Moreover, the price of packaged flour also increased by Tk20-Tk 30 per sack (12 two-kg packets) at wholesale level, although its impact has not yet been felt at the retail level.
According to the state-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), the price of unpackaged atta increased to Tk60 per kg from Tk55 last week, while the price of packed atta jumped to Tk63 per kg from Tk58 last week.
However, the prices of maida — unpacked and packed — were stable as of now at Tk68 per kg and Tk75 per kg respectively, TCB data claimed.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Banaspati Manufacturers Association (BVORBMA), the association of owners of edible oil refining and marketing companies, has submitted a proposal to raise soybean oil price by Tk15 per litre. Oil refiners argued that traders will count losses due to higher production costs and price hikes in the global market if soybean oil price is not adjusted.
They urged the government to readjust the prices by Sunday.
If approved, cooking oil prices may go up as Bangladesh Tariff Commission (BTC) is considering the proposal for hiking edible oil from existing Tk158 per litre for loose oil, a litre bottle at Tk178, and a 5-litre bottle at Tk880.
The price of domestic sugar produced by the state-owned Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industry Corporation (BSFIC) has increased by Tk14 per kg to Tkk99 from existing Tk85.
However, the sugar prices were not falling because of controlled supply and priced at Tk110-Tk120 per kg in the retail market.
The price of local onions experienced a hike to Tk65 per kg from Tk55 last week, while the imported variety sold at Tk60 per kg on Saturday, which was also Tk55 last week.
As of now, there was no major change in rice prices as it remained stable, although consumers said prices were still high and did not come down to tolerable rates yet. The finer variant of rice is being sold at Tk75 per kg, paijam and lata variants at Tk58, and coarse variant at Tk55 per kg. Some spices like ginger, garlic, turmeric, cumin also experienced hikes by Tk10-Tk30 per unit.
Though the season of winter vegetables has almost arrived, there has been no change in prices, as most vegetables were still selling at high prices.