Commodity prices high in absence of market monitoring
Staff Reporter :
The monitoring of the Ministry of Commerce and the National Directorate of Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) inspection teams reflect insignificant impact to keep prices of essential commodities stable across the country.
Market analysts viewed that due to the structural weaknesses including law, shortage on manpower, business person’s excessive profit tendency, lack of coordination, co-operation among involving stakeholders, misinformation caused these sort of market failure.
However, in the just ended of financial year of 2022-23, monitoring team of the Ministry of Commerce inspected 720 markets but the impact was temporary in nature, according to the Commerce ministry.
Even in the market, there is an obligation to display the product prices in the market shops, it is not being followed. Vendors also do not cooperate properly with the monitoring work.
Rather, when the monitoring team appears vendors closed their shops and left. Many of them don’t want to show the LC cost and purchase price of the product. If many make excessive profits, strong punitive measures cannot be taken due to legal barriers.
Currently, there is a provision of fine from Tk 50,000 to maximum Tk two lakh for offences like price increase of goods, adulteration etc.
At the same time, if a consumer filed case in such issues, the court can impose a fine of Tk 2 lakh or one year in jail or both. However, these punishments are insufficient for the type of crimes that are currently committed in the market.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) President Golam Rahman said that due to the lack of competition in the market, a few companies are making abnormal profits by fixing the prices and supply of products.
Unscrupulous traders are sometimes looting money by causing supply shortage of edible oil, sometimes sugar or onion, ginger, eggs, green chilies etc.
Golam Rahman also expressed the government needs to conduct careful and detailed market analysis to solve the problem, along with spewing arbitrary measures like monitoring initiatives.
