Subsidised TCB sales benefitted 3.34cr families

Some 3.34 crore families across the country benefitted from the sale of basic commodities at subsidised rates by the state-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) between March last year and May this year, claimed a commerce ministry statement yesterday.

The TCB, a body under the commerce ministry, sold 2.34 tonnes of basic commodities including edible oil, sugar, red lentil, onion, gram, potato and dates to 13.33 crore people, it read.

In the statement, both Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi and Senior Secretary to the Ministry Md Jafar Uddin claimed that prices of basic commodities had remained stable last year except for that of edible oil.

The prices were more or less stable between 2014 and May 2020, it read.

However, the prices started climbing in international markets since June last year and it impacts fell on the local markets as some 95 per cent of the demand is met through imports, said the statement.

Over a year ago, the international market price was Tk 52.11 per kilogramme (kg). However, it has now come to reach Tk 135.84, registering a 160 per cent year-on-year hike.

The price in the domestic markets had varied between Tk 88 and Tk 93 per kg. However, currently it is between Tk 120 and Tk 125, registering a 35 per cent rise, it said.