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| Floods 2004 |
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Soaring prices of most of the essential commodities over past two weeks has hit the consumers hard and has aggravated the sufferings of the flood-affected people. While sellers are attributing the sudden hike to the floods, prices of many of the commodities like onion, red pepper, ginger, turmeric and lentils which have not been directly affected by the situation, have gone up by Tk 10 to 20 per kilogram in the city's kitchen markets. Eggs, which would have cost somewhere between Tk 48 to 50 a dozen depending on whether it was from the poultry farm or of local variety, in the beginning of this month, now sell at Tk 50 to 54, said an egg trader at Karwan Bazar kitchen market. Green chili was Tk 25 to 30 per kilogram a few weeks ago. But now it has shot up to Tk 40 at Shantinagar, Hatirpul, Fakirerpul and Karwan Bazar kitchen markets.
Good quality locally produced lentils cost Tk 45 to 46 per kg at present in the retail market. It had been fluctuating between Tk 38 to 42 about two weeks ago. Local onion is now Tk 22 per kg rising from Tk 18 in the first week of this month. The Indian variety, which was Tk 14 per kg, is selling at Tk 16. Local and imported ginger now cost Tk 65 and 70 per kg respectively although it had been Tk 50 and 40 not too long ago. Local turmeric is Tk 65 per kilo, a ten Taka jump. Per kg red pepper sells at Tk 65 to 80. It was between Tk 50 to 65 a month ago. Prices of different varieties of rice too have gone up by two to three Taka. Minikat is Tk 19 per kg while Nazirshail is 18 Taka. Sugar was Tk 30 but now selling at Tk 31 to 32 in the retail market. While per kg lady's finger, bitter gourd and brinjal were priced at Tk 32, 24 and 28 respectively inside the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) market in Karwan Bazar, the same items were found selling at Tk 16 barely a hundred yards away in the roadside market. Even two weeks ago, lady's finger and brinjal would have cost Tk 10 to12 per kilo. While a number of retailers at Karwan Bazar said that the wholesalers were to blame for manipulating the price, the wholesalers claimed that it was due to shortage of supply, communication disruption and also because most of the production units' have gone under underwater. "Situation in the essential commodity market is unbelievable. Prices of all the vegetables and spices have gone up by Tk 4 to 10," said Zaheda Begum, a housewife while shopping at Karwan Bazar. Many others echoed the same sentiment. "This is an unethical practice of the unscrupulous section of the business community. They create situations for price hike whenever they get an opportunity," said Quazi Faruque, general secretary of Consumers Association of Bangladesh. Terming the price hike of onion and edible oil in recent past as syndicated price manipulation, Faruque said that the current flood situation in the country has got nothing to do with the price hike of eggs and sugar. He refuted the commerce minister's reported satisfaction over market price situation. "There is no mechanism at the moment to instantly protect the consumers," said commerce secretary Aminur Rahman. "But we have appealed to the business community not to exploit consumers during a distressful situation like flood. Besides, we are rather apprehensive that the business community might resort to adverse measures in case we interfere in the market," he added. The secretary said that the consumer protection act, draft of which is ready, will be placed at a cabinet meeting soon and then tabled during the next parliament session.
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