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Prices of onion and sugar witnessed a fresh hike in the last two days augmenting woes of the commoners.
Sugar price further increased to Tk150-170 a kg from Tk 145-160 a kg. Loose sugar retailed at Tk150-155 a kg and packed sugar at Tk160-170 a kg.
Traders said prices of the essentials started increasing further with a recent announcement made by the commerce minister in Rangpur that 'there is now no option to reduce sugar prices.'
Habibur Rahman, a grocer at Buddhijibir Dhal at Rayer Bazar in the city, said loose sugar price further increased by Tk4.0-4.5 a kg at Moulovibazar wholesale market in the last three days.
He said a 50-kg bag of sugar is being sold at Tk7100-7200 instead of Tk6,850 maximum.
He added companies are not supplying packed sugar as they could make more profits through selling it in loose form.
He said the price increased just with the announcement of the commerce minister that the government has no option to reduce prices of the sweetener.
However, the commerce minister made the announcement on November 29 at his Rangpur residence while answering to a journalist.
The minister also said prices of other commodities like seasonal vegetables, rice, pulses, chicken, oil and potato were showing a decline.
According to the commerce and industry ministries, the country produces only 22,000 tonnes of sugar against its gigantic demand for 2.4-2.5 million tonnes.
Seven leading refiners import all the sugar the country needs-though there have been suggestions for expanding the scope.
However, local onion was retailed at Tk120-130 a kg and imported onion at Tk110-120 a kg on Sunday marking Tk10 a kg further hike in last two days.
The price of onion has increased by 45-58 per cent since the imposition of maximum export price (MEP) by India at US $ 800 a tonne in October 28.
The current price of the spice is 120-127 per cent higher than that of a year back, according to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).
TM Rashed Khan, assistant director at the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM), said the prices of onion have been increasing despite the beginning of harvest of seed onion in many places.
He said big importers and their allied traders are dominating both the markets of local and imported onions thus resulting in existing elevated price.
He said the supply of local onion is still very good in the market while seed onion has also hit the kitchens recently.
Seed onion has been trading at Tk40-45 a kg at village level, he said.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) vice president SM Nazer Hossain said onion, sugar and flour markets have become most unregulated ones.
He added traders raised prices of sugar at will while the government agencies almost closed their eyes.
He said sugar refiner companies are deliberately violating the government-fixed rate of sugar.
He also said despite having ample supply, traders raised prices of local onion without any reason.
He urged the government to start strict monitoring to keep the prices of the commodities within the reach of the commoners.