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Heavy rain batters business

Star Business Report
Overnight downpour that disrupted the supply chain yesterday stoked fears of a price hike in kitchen markets.
The delivery of essentials, mostly vegetables, to wholesale markets in the city from different parts of the country faced marked damage after heavy rain battered the transportation system. Much of the capital went under water, snapping off road communications with the rest of the country.
Dhaka recorded 290 millimetres of rainfall in the six hours to 7am, highest in 60 years.
Many makeshift kitchen markets pulled down their shutters due to rain. The presence of customers was thin.
"There are few or no customers in the market because of the continuous rain," said Shahjahan Mia, a greengrocer at the Jatrabari wholesale kitchen market.
He said the supply of vegetables was disrupted for the downpour. It is almost customary that the prices shoot up in bad weather, mainly for two reasons — disorder in the supply chain and damaged crops in the fields.
Kitchen markets in Chittagong faced a similar situation. Business came to a halt at the wholesale commodity markets in Khatunganj, Chaktai and Asadganj since the sale and delivery of different commodities from different warehouses were hampered, said Md Samsuddoha, president of Khatunganj Kanchamal Baboshayee Samity.
Gone was the daily buzz of business in the commercial hub of Dhaka: Motijheel. Bankers recorded thin transactions, as serious waterlogging disrupted road links. Several ATM service points were found off.
"The number of clients dropped significantly due to the rain. But our ATM service was on," said Helal Ahmed Chowdhury, managing director of Pubali Bank Chowdhury said many officials came to the office despite knee-deep water in Motijheel.
M Ehsanul Haque, managing director of Prime Bank, said many of their employees could not come to the office in time. Many others made apology calls, as they could not leave homes because of the dire situation. "One of our AI Ms in the city went offline," Haque said.
A Dutch Bangla Bank Ltd official said at least 10 of the bank's ATMs went out of order due to heavy rain.
Export import activities at banks slowed in the poor presence of clients. "We have opened only one L/C," said the Pubali Bank managing director yesterday.
DSE BELLS AN HOUR LATE
Trading on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) began an hour late yesterday, as water flowed into the ground floor, stock market officials told The Daily Star.
Trade began at 11:00am and ended at the usual time of 2pm, said officials.
Meanwhile, stocks closed higher on speculation of positive outcome from a meeting of high officials of Bangladesh Bank, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the DSE and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) that took place at the central
bank.
At the meeting, the central bank assured SEC, DSE and CSE that it would not take any measure to cast a negative impact on the market.
The benchmark DSE General Index rose by 18.4 points, or 0.64 percent, to 2,861.68. The DSE All Share Price Index gained by 14.73 points, or 0.61 percent, to 2,397.74.
Within the first 60 minutes, the market gained about 22 points. However, in the last 20 minutes, there was a selling spree that brought the market down by just 5 points, Equity Partners Limited (EPL), an Investment firm, said in its daily market analysis. Turnover on the premier bourse was Tk
379.39 crore.
PORT CITY
Life at the premier port also slowed due to heavy downpour, as the loading and unloading of bulk cargo was suspended.
Loading of bulk cargo was on hold at different jetties at Chittagong Port and at the outer anchorage for the last two days due to incessant rain, said port officials.
Vessel operations at the port channel, however, were normal, said Chittagong Port Secretary Syed Farhad Uddin Ahmad.
Despite the noticeable impacts of some renovation work in different city
canals done by the Chittagong City Corporation earlier, people of many low-lying areas still suffered due to waterlogging.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association First Vice President Nasiruddin Chowdhury said the rate of absence was at around 30 percent in different garment factories.
He however said no inundation of garment factories and damage to machinery or raw materials was reported.
Delivery of goods from some 250 warehouses located at Muradpur, Nasirabad and Halishahar was sus-pendeddue to rainfall.