Above 60pc city shops out of flour, sugar, oil

Like sugar and wheat flour, the capital's groceries now have a scarcity of edible oil too, raising sufferings of the consumers further.

Above 60 per cent groceries in the city are going out of these three key essentials, a visit to 61 groceries in some residential areas revealed.

Sharif Al Kamal, a NGO official, was seen looking for sugar and flour in Jafrabad area under Rayerbazar on Sunday night.

"I've gone to 10 shops, but couldn't collect sugar and wheat flour. Later, I found flour only at a departmental store in Shankar, and sourced sugar from Mohammadpur Town Hall."

He said the price of a two-kg sack of maida (finer flour) increased further to Tk 158 from Tk 150 a few days back.

Many of the consumers in the city told the FE that groceries are also going out of edible oil.

"You could find soybean oil in one of five shops, where it is being sold at Tk 185-190 a litre," said Mehrunnesa Rumi, a resident of Razia Sultana Road in Mohammadpur.

The government-fixed rate of bottled soybean oil is Tk 178 a litre.

She also said sugar is being sold at a few shops at Tk 115-125 a kg, whereas the government fixed its price at Tk 95 a kg.

While visiting 61 groceries in Rayerbazar, West Dhanmondi, Mohammadpur and Bhootergoli areas in the city between Sunday and Monday, the FE found that 37 shops had no sugar, flour and edible oil, 13 shops had all the items, while 11 shops had one or two of the items.

Abdul Hoque, proprietor of Miaji General Store in East Rayer Bazar area, told the FE that dealers have stopped supplying sugar at the government-fixed rate.

They are offering a 50-kg sugar sack at Tk 5,400 (Tk 108 a kg) in a condition to accept it with a voucher of Tk 4,300, he also said.

Rafiqul Islam, a Mohammadpur Krishi Market based dealer-cum-grocer, said they are not getting sugar and edible oil from the millers in time.

"Orders of October are yet to reach my warehouse," he noted.

City Group Director Biswajit Saha, however, told the FE that supply of sugar, flour and edible oil from the mills and refineries is normal now.

"Dealers are getting the products as per their demands, as our company is providing 1,500-1,600 tonnes of each of the items per day."

"Meghna, S Alam, Deshbandhu and other companies are also supplying items at the government-fixed rates to the dealers."

Apart from the mills and refineries, the government agencies should also ensure monitoring at the dealer and big grocery levels to find out hoarded essentials, if any, he opined.

Head of Directorate of National Consumers Right Protection (DNCRP) A H Shafiquzzaman recently said there is no scarcity of products in the country, but hoarding by a section of companies and traders is making the situation critical.

Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Vice President S M Nazer Hossain said the government agencies have conducted above 56,000 drives against unscrupulous traders in the last one decade, but the condition has hardly changed.

Capital punishment should be ensured for market manipulators to bring normalcy in the market.

The Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission (BTTC) and the DNCRP have to play a vital role - considering import cost of goods, import volume, availability of different companies, and prices at mill-gate, wholesale and retail levels.

"Import duty on products like edible oil and sugar should be removed for a certain period to make these items available to consumers," he added.

Bangladesh has an annual demand for 2.2 million tonnes of sugar, 2.4 million tonnes of edible oil, and 7.0 million tonnes of wheat. The country meets 90-95 per cent of the demand for these three essentials through import.

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