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Commodity prices spike again

Md Fazlur Rahman
Prices of basic commodities such as cooking oil and lentil continue an upward trend although rice prices have steadied and are expected to drop further.
Ruhul Amin, who works at a grocery shop in Khilkhet, said the price of packaged cooking oil has gone up by Tk 1 a litre in the last one week.
Alamgir Hossain, owner of Nur Enterprise at Dhaka City Corporation market in Mohakhali, said they sold a five-litre bottle of cooking oil for Tk 600 a month ago, which is now Tk630-Tk635.
The price of palm oil also went up by 5.82 percent to Tk 99-Tk 101 a litre in the last one month. The demand for palm oil has picked up again as the weather is warm and oil no longer solidifies, said Mohammad Ali Bhutto, secretary general of Moulvibazar Edible Oil Wholesalers Association.
However, figures from Trading Corporation of Bangladesh show that the price of branded cooking oil fell by 0.40 percent last month. The price was between Tk 625 and Tk 630 per five-litre bottle on Monday.
Mohammad Moin, who owns a grocery shop in Khilkhet Ali Dewan Super Market, now sells local lentils at Tk 90 a kilogram compared to Tk 100 from a week ago; imported lentils are sold at Tk 80 a kilogram, upfromTk70.
The average prices of lentils rose by 3.45 percent, with the price of the Nepalese variety increasing by 4.57 percent to Tk 88-Tk 95 a kilogram in a month.
Onion and garlic saw the biggest jump in prices in the last one month.
Local onions traded at Tk 20-Tk 22 a kilogram yesterday, up by 55.56 percent from Tk 12-Tk 15 month ago.
"Ninety percent of the local onion stocks have already been
consumed. But there is nothing to panic as we will get a new harvest in late March," said Narayan Chandra Saha, an importer.
Prices of imported onions rose by 15.79 percent in a month to sell between Tk22 and Tk24 a kilogram.
Prices of local onions shot up by 45 percent to retail at Tk 30-Tk 50 a kilogram. However, prices of imported varieties went down by 26.67 percent to sell at Tk 55-Tk 60 a kilogram yesterday.
Good crops and continuous market intervention by the government caused retail prices of coarse rice to fall by 10 percent to Tk 28-Tk 32 now from a month ago.
Wholesale prices of coarse rice have been staying at just more than Tk 26 each kilogram for the last two months, down from more than Tk 27 in October-November period last year, showed the data of Food Planning and Monitoring Unit. Although the stability of rice prices gives some breathing space to general consumers like Hazera Khatun, who lives on tutoring students from home, the upward trend in the prices of basic commodities and vegetables nearly empty their purses.
"The government needs to strengthen market monitoring," the 35-year-old said.
Stores in small markets and in the residential areas charge more compared to the retailers in big markets.
Another store-owner in Khilkhet said there is no alternative to reducing the number of intermediaries in the supply chain if the government really wants to keep the prices of basic commodities stable.
"There is no accountability. We cannot even ask for explanations behind any price hike," he said.
"We have no other way but to buy at higher prices from wholesalers and later pass the high prices on to the endconsumers."
fazlur.rahman@thedailystar.net