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An intelligence agency has warned of a volatile aromatic spices market ahead of the holy Eid-ul-Azha festival.
The spice market is heating up though there is no shortage of supply. A section of unscrupulous traders have made the market unstable.
Meanwhile, the Special Branch (SB) has requested the commerce ministry to foil the possible volatility through monitoring. Besides, it has submitted a set of suggestions with a view to keeping stable the retail and wholesale spice markets.
It observes obscure financial transactions in the imports of spices because of mismatch between the dutiable spice prices and the spice prices at international market.
It also observes that such traders are getting involved in various informal trades, including under-invoices, smuggling due to the existing high customs duties.
Various spices, including cumin, cardamom, potato and alobukhara, are being smuggled from neighbouring countries because of high customs duties, which smuggled spices are being bought and sold in Jessore, Bogura and some border districts, according to the agency report.
Importers have imported spices in advance few months ago, targeting the demand during the Eid.
The report claimed that although a large amount of spices is imported into the domestic market, the prices of spices are increasing day by day due to the manipulation of unscrupulous traders.
The Chattogram seaport is the most used port for importing fragrant spices. About 82 per cent of the imports come through this port and the remaining 18 per cent through other ports.
Among the spices used in the country's culinary industry, cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper are completely depended on imports.
To meet the country's growing demands, all these spices are imported from about 23 countries, including India, Vietnam, Thailand, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Guatemala, Madagascar, Syria, Sri Lanka, China and Turkey.
In addition, the list of other less used and import-depended spices includes nutmeg, jaitri and saffron.
About 40-42 per cent of the country's spice demands are met through import.
When contacted, a senior official of the commerce ministry said the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Middle East war, increased dollar price against local taka and the increased fuel prices across the world have caused the prices of every product, including spices, to rise in the world market. These reasons have been increased the import cost of such spices.
He mentioned capitalising on the upward trend in product prices at home and abroad, such traders at various levels of the country have already reduced the supply of all types of spices in the retail market and increased prices irrationally by syndication.
Although spices are used throughout the year, the demand for spices is higher during religious and national holidays. The demand for spices is higher during Eid-ul-Adha and Eid-ul-Fitr.
To meet the festival demand, many spices are imported from different countries in addition to being produced in the country.
In the current global situation, some unscrupulous traders have already destabilised the spice market by capitalising on the increased demand for spices during Eid-ul-Azha.
As a result, the prices of almost all types of spices are increasing even though there is no shortage of supply. To keep the fragrant spices market making affordable during Eid-ul-Azha, the SB has recommended making arrangements to reduce the existing high duty rate on spices soon, establishing storage facilities to preserve domestically produced spices, resolving the LCs related complications in the import of spices to keep their supplies normal in the market.
It has suggested taking effective measures by coordinating among the departments concerned for determining the demand for spices and taking decisions on imports.
It has also recommended controlling the prices in the wholesale and retail markets to determine reasonable prices according to the quality of the products and to emphasising increasing strict monitoring and surveillance in its implementation.
It has highlighted ensuring punishment of unscrupulous traders by operating mobile courts, updating the spices prices list regularly across the country.
Since the dutiable prices of various spices are higher than the international market prices of the products, the SB mentions that the dutiable prices of the products can be determined periodically in coordination with the international market price to make the dutiable price flexible.
Sector insiders and sources at the Bangladesh Wholesale Hot Spices Traders Association said the import duty on spices has increased significantly due to the increase in the assessed value of various spices and the dollar value in the current fiscal year. For this, the retail price of spices in the market has increased relatively.
Imports duty of different hot spices, especially cardamom and cashew, have been increased more than double in the current fiscal 2024-25 than last fiscal year's, the traders claimed.
The import duty on cashew and cardamom have stood at Tk 0.66 million and Tk 1.08 million per tonne, an increase by 153.35 and 121.62 per cent respectively than last fiscal year.
Import duty of pistachio nuts, cloves, dried Plum (aloboukara), raisin, cumin and cinnamon have to increase by 20.26 per cent, 10.81 per cent, 20.68 per cent, 10.81 per cent, 10.81 per cent and 10.81 per cent respectively in the current financial year than last financial year, traders also claimed.
Earlier of the current May, the commerce asked all deputy commissioners (DCs) and its agencies to enhance monitoring to prevent the smuggling of hot spices and keep the price of the essential items under control during and ahead of the upcoming Eid festival, a commerce ministry official said.
The instruction has been given according to the recommendations of the National Security Intelligence (NSI).
The NSI has also given suggestions including ensuring adequate stock and increasing import of such spices as per the demand. It also recommended reducing the assessment value (per tonne) and stopping import of spices through land ports.
The prices of garlic (imported) and cinnamon have increased comparatively. The price of cardamom has increased significantly and the prices of garlic (local), ginger, dried chilli, turmeric, cumin, cloves and coriander have decreased slightly.
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