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In the midst of this challenging journey, as consumers navigate the rollercoaster of essential markets-- spanning rice, fish, meat, eggs, potatoes, and vegetables--concern reached new heights last week, fueled by a fresh surge in sugar and flour prices.
Sugar prices reached Tk140-150 from Tk135-140 a kg while sugar from local variety sugarcane was found trading at Tk 150-160 a kg marking Tk5.0-10 a kg hike.
The government has recently taken measure to minimise sugar prices as it slashed some specific duties by 50 per cent.
The import tariff on raw and refined sugar was cut by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) a week back in an attempt to contain prices in the domestic market.
Importers need to pay Tk1,500 as specific duty on import of each tonne of raw sugar, down from Tk 3,000 earlier, according to an NBR notification.
Similarly, specific duty on refined sugar was slashed to Tk3,000 a tonne from Tk 6,000.
The NBR, however, retained a 15 per cent value added tax (VAT) and 30 regulatory duty on raw and refined sugar import.
The reduction was based on the commerce ministry's recommendation.
But the cut rather hardly put any impact on prices of the commodity increased by Tk5.0-10 a kg in the city's retail market, according to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) and city groceries.
Traders at Moulovibazar in Dhaka and Khatunganj in Chattogram alleged that millers and distributors are manipulating the market, maintaining control despite government intervention.
Ranajit Ghosh, a Khatunganj-based trader, said sugar sales are much lower, yet prices are rising due to collusion between millers and distributors.
Despite a recent duty reduction, prices increased significantly by Tk5.0-6.0 a kg, indicating market manipulation, he said.
He claimed City, S Alam, Abdul Monem, Meghna and other all companies are not giving new DOs (delivery orders) while exchange of hands of old DOs are causing the hike in prices. Bangladesh is almost import-dependent on sugar as it produces hardly 20,000 tonnes against a demand for 2.2-2.4 million tonnes of the essential.
Leading seven refiners annually import over 2.4 million tonnes of sugar.
Meanwhile, flour price, after remaining almost static for last three months, increased by Tk3.0-4.0 a kg as coarse flour was sold at Tk 48-62 and finer one at Tk 60-72 a kg on Thursday.
However, egg prices showed a slight decline but coarse rice, potato, onion remained static at their previous highs.