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Commerce ministry opens probe into salt price hike

Star Business Report
The commerce ministry set up a three-member panel on Sunday to investigate an abnormal hike in salt prices, Commerce Secretary Ghulam Hussain said yesterday.
The committee headed by Abdul Wadud, a deputy secretary of the ministry, will submit a report to the secretary by Thursday.
Hussain said the price of salt could be Tk 19-Tk 22 a kilogram at most, so theTk 35 a kg at which it is selling right now is wide of the mark.
"In our primary investigation we found the price of salt to have shot up due to a section of unscrupulous traders who wanted to make hefty profits during
the Ramadan," Hussain told reporters at his secretariat office.
The commerce ministry lifted the ban on salt imports temporarily on June 4 upon request from the industries ministry to meet the higher demand.
Since June 4, a total of 1.21 lakh tonnes of salt have been imported against the opening of letters of credit for 2.81 lakh tonnes.
The monthly domestic demand for salt is 70,000 tonnes, of which 50,000 tonnes are imported and the remaining 20,000 tonnes come from domestic sources.
Hussain said the price hike most definitely is due to a section of unscrupulous traders who sold unprocessed salt at Tk 8 per kg when its import cost isTk 3 per kg.
A section of traders, however, has violated two laws by resorting to the underhand tactic, Hussain said.
“Firstly, they are not allowed to sell unprocessed salt in the market, and then they have gone and made abnormal profits out of it.”
“Most probably we will apply the competition law, for the first time, against the traders after the completion of the investigation,” he said.
Hussain said the ministry is now examining whether any legal action could be taken against the three big cooking oil refining companies whose brands were found “unacceptably priced”.
“The ministry has already asked from the three companies for an explanation as to why the prices of their brands were not at a reasonable level,” he said.
He said the prices of all basic commodities other than the salt have remained at a tolerable level during the Ramadan, thanks to strong monitoring at