NBR gathering information on hoarding of essentials
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has started collecting information on import and sale of some basic commodities, especially onion, on the assumption that prices were being manipulated by unscrupulous traders through illegal hoarding.
NBR Chairman Md Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said this at a press briefing after a meeting with the commerce and food ministers and traders at the office of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) in Dhaka yesterday.
“We gave a message to the businesses which import basic commodities that anyone trying to hoard goods and increase prices unnecessarily would be identified and punished,” said Bhuiyan.
The FBCCI organised the event to discuss the prevailing situation of production, import, stock, value chain, pricing and annual demand for essential commodities.
Stating that there was no supply shortage of daily essentials, including onions, in the market, Bhuiyan asked traders of basic commodities to be moral.
He assured that there would be no shortage of salt, edible oil, lentil and sugar in the market in the near future due to their supplies being adequate.
FBCCI President Sheikh Fazle Fahim suggested engagements between the public and private sectors to increase supply of the goods and avert abnormal fluctuations in the commodity market.
The meeting has agreed in principle for initiating an inventory management to this effect, he said.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said the government faced troubles with onion prices for two reasons -- export suspension by India and cyclone Bulbul that damaged crops.
Following government request, private sector businesses opened letters of credit for importing over 60,000 tonnes of onion from Egypt and Turkey. The consignments would start reaching the Chattogram port from December 1 or 2.
He said the imported onion would sell for less than Tk 60 a kilogramme in the market as the cost incurred up to the port would be Tk 32.
Munshi claimed that onion imported from the two countries was selling for Tk 120 a kg while locally gown ones at Tk 140-160 in the market.
He said the Indian commerce minister had assured of lifting the export ban in late October after the elections in Maharashtra but did not keep the promise.
The commerce minister said the onion brought over by air from Egypt and Turkey was costing the government over Tk 200 a kg but it was being sold at Tk 45 a kg through the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.
Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder claimed that prices of rice had remained stable although there has been an increase by Tk 6-8 per kg in the past 15 days.
He, however, said prices of the fine variety increased a little bit in the retail market as food habits of the Bangladeshis have changed to the extent that none wants to consume the coarse variety.
Comments