& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

State mills hike sugar prices

Sohel Parvez
Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) increased mill-gate prices of sugar by 13 percent to Tk 60 a kilogram early this week, a senior official said yesterday.
The state-run agency hiked the mill-gate prices of sugar for the second time in four months. Earlier this year, the price was Tk 45, which was hiked to Tk 53 in June.
The BSFIC, which operates 15 state-run sugar mills, cited an increase in production costs behind the latest hike in the price. The corporation, however, did not set any rate for its nearly4,000 dealers to sell the sugar to retailers.
' 'We have increased the sales price as our production costs have been very high for a long time," Ferdous Begum, secretary to the BSFIC, toldThe Daily Star yesterday.
She said the decision to hike the price came on Monday.
The hike in prices came a week after private sugar refiners raised factory gate rate by Tk 4 or 7 percent to Tk 64 because of a rise in their import costs.
The retail prices of sugar, however, remained stable at Tk 65-Tk 68 each kilogram yesterday, thanks to imports from India in the last two weeks that reined in the prices at the wholesale level due to an increased supply.
State and private refiners hiked the prices at a time when sugar prices fell on the international market on the speculation of a rise in output in India, world's second biggest pro-
ducer, and Europe.
Officials of die BSFIC, however, said the government considers increasing the procurement price of sugarcane to encourage farmers to continue growing cane as production declines due to a fall in cultivation area amid farmers' switch to other crops.
Early this week, sugarcane farmers demanded a hike in the prices of sugarcane to Tk 120 each maund from present Tk 83 and threatened to stop supply to the sugar mills in the coming crushing season unless their demand remains unmet.
The mills under the BSFIC produced 100,962 tonnes of sugar in fiscal 2010-11, up from 62,000 tonnes the previous year.
The amount of production by the state mills is 7-8 percent of the yearly demand for sugar at 12-14 lakh tonnes, according to millers.
Ferdous Begum said the average production cost of the BSFIC sugar mills stands atTk77-Tk 78 a kg and it is difficult for the corporation to continue selling below the cost.
Abul Hashem, owner of Hasan Enterprise, a dealer of the BSFIC, said he knew from the corporation that the mill-gate sugar prices have increased to Tk 60 per kg. He said he is yet to collect sugar at the hiked rate.
"I will incur loss if I buy sugar at Tk 60 a kg," said Hashem, also vice president of Bangladesh Sugar Merchants Association.