Traders have started to increase the price of gram (chhola), which is consumed heavily during Ramadan, in the last few days.
The price of husked and unhusked gram, along with the prices of all other food items, increased in the retail markets of the capital over the week as a prelude to Ramadan, which is likely to start in the first week of August.
The price of husked gram increased by Tk 20 to Tk 82 per kg, and of unhusked gram by Tk 5 per to Tk 45 per kg, over the week in the capital's retail markets.
The retailers at Karwan Bazaar said that the wholesalers increase the price of husked gram before Shab-e-Barat and of unhusked gram before Ramadan every year.
They said that the people traditionally begin to eat husked gram mainly on the occasion of Shab-e-Barat, and continue to do so throughout the month of Ramadan. The wholesalers reportedly hold back their stocks in order to manipulate the prices.
Mujibur Rahman, a retailer at Karwan Bazaar, said that wholesalers have also started to increase the price of unhusked gram, which is mainly consumed in Ramadan.
Aminul Huq, another trader at Karwan Bazaar, said that prices would not rise so drastically if the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh imports enough gram to check price manipulation by the importers and wholesalers.
However, the wholesalers said that the price of gram increased because of the shortage of gram in the international market. They also said that there was a huge shortage of good quality gram as Australia, the main producer, was flooded in January in this year.
Shafi Mahmud, a gram wholesaler at Chawk Bazaar, said that wholesalers were dependent on imports, mainly from Australia, to meet the demand for quality gram. But the flood that had swept through that country had damaged much of the crop.
Shafi said the wholesalers procured quality unhusked gram from the importers at Chittagong Port on Thursday for Tk 49 to Tk 54 per kg, the price having increased by Tk 5 over the week.
He said the wholesalers were compensating for the loss they had incurred by selling gram for Tk 36 per kg last year which they had procured for Tk 45 per kg.
The wholesalers increased the price of quality husked gram by Tk 15 to Tk 78 per kg over the week.
The price of sugar continued to increase during the last month and stood at Tk 66 per kg in the retail markets on Saturday, Tk 8 higher than last month's price.
The retailers said that the refiners were taking full advantage of the government's failure to enforce the distributorship system.
The price of 5 litres of bottled soya bean oil increased by Tk 15 over the week and stood at Tk 590 in the retail markets.
Abul Kasem, a retailer, claimed that the millers had been reducing the supply of bottled soya bean oil for a few months in order to increase the price at the wholesale level.
Source : New Age
