Refiners cut sugar prices after govt directive

Following a government directive, sugar refiners yesterday lowered the prices of the commodity amid a continuous rise at the retail level.

As  per the new rate, the price of loose sugar has been set at Tk 74 per  kilogramme (kg) while packaged sugar will cost Tk 75 per kg.

The decision was taken after a meeting between Bangladesh Sugar Refiners Association,  the commerce ministry and Tariff Commission, according to a press  release.

The prices were readjusted considering the current international prices and product costs, it said.

Biswajit  Saha, director for corporate and regulatory affairs at City Group, said  they will implement the new rates fixed by the government.

Abul Hasem, vice president of the Sugar Baboshayee (businessmen) Association, said they were not aware of the new prices.

"It is not possible to implement the new prices at the retail level as millers are asking for Tk 74 per kg," he said.

Abdur  Razzaque, a wholesaler in Khatunganj of Chattogram, the largest  wholesale market in the country, said sugar prices at mill gates in the  port city were between Tk 73 and Tk 74 per kg.

According to  industry insiders, it is not possible to implement the new rates as  prices have been increasing at the international level.

Besides, freight charges and production costs have also increased, they said. 

In  the international market, the price of sugar was between $510 to 520  per tonne earlier this week while it was $420 to 430 per tonne two  months back.

An official of an importing company said the import cost of sugar is now around Tk 95 per kg.

The  price of sugar has increased by around Tk 20 per kg, or 30 per cent,  since the end of July. The retail price of sugar was between TK 60 and  Tk 65 until the second week of the same month.

Then, the price  increased multiple times, ultimately reaching Tk 80 per kg at the  beginning of this week. Yesterday, retailers were selling sugar at Tk  80-85 per kg.

However, data from the Trading Corporation of  Bangladesh (TCB) shows that sugar was being sold at Tk 78 to Tk 80 per  kg at different markets in Dhaka yesterday, which is about 10 per cent  more than the price during the same period in July.

As of July 9  this year, the average price of sugar was Tk 69 per kg and even fell to  Tk 60-65 the same month before the sudden rise.

According to the  US Department of Agriculture, Bangladesh imported 2,450 tonnes of sugar  in the 2020-21 financial year, when 2,510 tonnes of the sweetener was  consumed.