Traders have already started stocking up: the prices of goods have started to rise before Ramadan

The Dhaka Times Desk There is still a lot of time left for Ramadan. But with the smell of Ramadan, things like onion have started growing. An official of traders' organization FBCI said in an event last week that care will be taken to ensure that the prices of goods are affordable during Ramadan. But the reality is completely different. The prices of Ramadan related goods have started to increase by leaps and bounds.

It is known that the prices of several items have started to rise ahead of Ramadan. Going to the market, it can be seen that the price of onion is 5 to 10 taka higher per kg this week than last week. Talking to traders, it is known that traders have started stocking some products. These stocked products are chickpeas, sugar, edible oil, broken chickpeas, kesari dal, gram flour, onion, salt, potato, ginger and milk.

Sugar prices have already started increasing. Desi sugar was sold at Tk 40 per kg last week. Now it is selling for 45 rupees. Foreign sugar which used to be sold at Tk 42 to Tk 45 is now being sold at Tk 50 per kg.

The price of sugar is beyond the reach of the people since a month ago. Ginger was also sold for 2.5 taka per kg last month. But now ginger is available in the open market for 180 to 200 taka. However, traders fear that the prices may increase again during Ramadan.

If the price of goods increases, the consumer has to pay the cost. Because traders buy at higher prices and sell at higher prices. And so if the price increases, the traders do not have any problem.

However, the government says otherwise. Government officials say that all the products related to Ramadan have enough stock this time. So there is no reason to increase the price. But the reality speaks quite differently. If you go to the market, you will find the truth. The matter can be clarified by analyzing the current market price of the previous week.

Ramadan actually increases the demand of edible oil especially compared to the demand of other times. 1 lakh 30 thousand metric tons of edible oil is required more than other times during Ramadan. Imports are made to meet this additional demand. There are many problems in this import. Due to not doing LC on time, sometimes the import is late and the demand increases, which also increases the price. But there are other previous experiences. For example, these products are imported by a few traders of the country. There are also allegations that they syndicate and increase the prices of these products. It cannot be said for sure that this will not happen again. Several newspapers have already published news - "In Ramadan, some wholesalers will control the prices of products" or "DO traders will control the market". Such news is nothing but great bad news for the common people. Moreover, the government has to strictly control that which increases the price by hoarding goods.

However, a meeting was also held at the Prime Minister's office regarding the price situation during Ramadan. Recently, an emergency meeting was also held at the Prime Minister's office to stabilize the prices of goods during Ramadan. In the meeting, it was ordered to be vigilant so that the prices of daily necessities do not increase in any way during Ramadan. At the same time strict market monitoring and measures to ensure supply of products have been ordered. In particular, the Ministry of Commerce has been asked to keep an eye on this matter. It is said to import onion if necessary to prevent price increase. FBCCI has been asked to monitor the market as well as the Ministry of Commerce so that no one can collect additional price from the buyers during Ramadan. On the other hand, it is said that the Ministry of Home Affairs has been informed to ensure the presence of sufficient members of law enforcement during the monitoring. In that meeting, the stakeholders have been asked to be careful so that Kono businessmen do not make the market upside down.

The common people of the country are not in favor of seeing or hearing so much. They want to see that the prices of the goods are within reach in the coming Ramadan.