Govt move fails for lack of strong oversight on suppliers

Says DG of Directorate of National Consumers' Right Protection

The price of potato went up further after the government on Thursday announced a price cap for the tuber and began market drives to check the soaring price of the tuber.

If wholesalers do not sell potatoes at Tk 27 a kg, the new price cap, the government will sell them, said AHM Shafikuzzaman, director general of the national consumer rights protection directorate, yesterday.

DG of national consumer rights protection directorate says

The commerce ministry’s price cap on onions, potatoes, and eggs barely made an impact on the runaway prices as shopkeepers in the capital have not complied with the order.

In a first, the government yesterday fixed the prices of eggs, onions and potatoes in its bid to contain the runaway food inflation, which hit a 12-year-high last month.

Opposition MPs came down hard on Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi yesterday for what they said was his failure to control the prices of essentials and take action against the market syndicates.

Refiners in Bangladesh today cut the price of soybean oil by Tk 5 and palm oil by Tk 4 a litre after edible oil prices declined in the international market.

Bangladesh Competition Commission yesterday lodges complaints against 10 poultry firms and poultry-related organisations for manipulating the egg market in collusion with each other to send egg prices skyrocketing.

Planning Minister MA Mannan yesterday assured the nation that the overall inflation would come down soon.

Dishonest traders pocketed crores of taka within a week by sending the egg price to an unprecedented level on the pretext of low production, inclement weather, and supply chain disruptions, said the chief of consumer rights watchdog.

The government would import eggs if price of the affordable source of animal protein keeps an upward trend, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said yesterday.

The state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) is set to start selling essential commodities at subsidised prices today for the month of August.

Although the prices of some daily commodities have decreased, middle- and low-income families are still struggling to make ends meet due to the recent hike in prices of essential grocery items such as eggs, chicken, onions, and potatoes.

The rising prices of essential commodities are making life increasingly difficult for people, especially those from low- to middle-income groups.

Asian rice trade paused on Friday to digest the previous day's ban by India, by far the world's biggest supplier, of a major share of its exports of the staple, with prices expected to climb substantially in coming days, three traders said.

Vegetable prices have been rising at the capital’s kitchen markets for about a month, making it even harder for low-income people to afford a balanced diet.

Several wholesalers and individual businessmen in Manikganj, Faridpur, Pabna and Narayanganj were fined yesterday for selling green chillies at inflated prices.

The commerce minister’s recent admission that stern measures against market manipulators could create a sudden crisis has exposed the helplessness and lack of political will of the government, said three top economists and a consumers' body.