Steps underway to arrest sugar price spiral

In the face of spiralling prices of sugar, Bangladesh Tariff Commission will sit with importers, refiners and traders tomorrow to suggest a rational selling price of the sweetener.

“The commission will want to know about the stock and determine what the prices should be in the local market. It will then recommend the next course of action,” Mushfeka Iqfat, chairman of the commission, told The Daily Star.

“We will not fix any price for any level. We will just try to suggest a price limit.”

A section of unscrupulous traders have been selling sugar at high prices cashing in on the higher demand for the commodity during Ramadan, though there were adequate supply and stock, she said.

The commission is convening the meeting at the instruction of Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed.

The demand for sugar is 5,000 tonnes a day, and the refiners supply 7,000-8,000 tonnes, which means there is no supply shortage at present, Fazlur Rahman, chairman of City Group, said at a meeting with the minister last week.

The minister had suggested sugar price should be Tk 55 a kg at the retail level during Ramadan. But the retail price was Tk 60 to Tk 65 in Dhaka yesterday, according to Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.

The government will not set any price, said Hedayetullah Al Mamoon, senior secretary to the commerce ministry.

“The price will be determined on the basis of supply and demand.” The ministry does not want to create any panic, which may discourage importers to open new letters of credit and ultimately fuel the prices, he said.

Last week, a mobile court in Chittagong fined Mir Ahmed Sawdagar Traders—a wholesaler—Tk 20 lakh for selling sugar at exorbitantly higher prices. The trader sold sugar at Tk 58.02 a kg after purchasing it at Tk 46.08 a kg, though its maximum wholesale price should have been around Tk 52. The minister said traders will face similar actions if they create any artificial crises.

Refiners are selling sugar at Tk 48 to Tk 50 a kg at mill gates, wholesalers at Tk 52 and retailers at Tk 55, Tofail said at the meeting with traders of basic commodities last week.

A total of 17.94 lakh tonnes of sugar was imported in 2014-15, which was 12.21 lakh tonnes during the July-March period of the current fiscal year, according to data from the commerce ministry.