Stabilising prices for Ramadan
Consultations have been taking place between the government and the trade and chamber bodies on one level, and between the wholesalers and the business leaders on another. The missing link, however, seems to be the retailers' associations. They need be brought in the loop because they are an important part of the market equations.
The interface between leaders of the business community and the wholesalers in the capital on Monday at the initiative of the Dhaka Chamber President Asif Ibrahim and attended by FBCCI President AK Azad and Commerce Minister Faruk Khan reviewed the stock positions of essential commodities. The FBCCI president argued that stocks of sugar and edible oil being sufficient, there is no reason for price hike, especially of those two items.
The wholesale traders differed from the FBCCI chief. They contended that government sector sugar industries under-producing and five out of six refining factories having been closed due to gas crisis; supply of sugar is irregular. That's why the high price of sugar. They also pointed out that edible oil are not sufficiently available to meet demands. The differing perceptions of stock and supply positions within the business community are cause for worries.
The wholesalers voiced their concerns about hartal and banks charging interest at a notch higher than the Bangladesh Bank-stipulated 12 percent on import of food items including spices. As for hartal, the political parties should refrain from calling it to chime in with the trader and consumer concerns.
President of the Bangladesh Supermarket Owners Association Niaz Rahim, for his part, has made a commitment not to charge different prices for meat, milk, gram, lentil, sugar, and date across their network. His assurance may have a positive vive with the upper end of the society who are their clientele. But what of the multitudes of consumers who depend on ordinary marketing network for their provisions? It is there that the price and quality control efforts will have to be expended to ease the plight of common consumers.
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