Poor people hit hard

• Rice price soared at least Tk4-5 per kg. Price shot up twice in last 3 months

• Broiler becomes costlier 

• Prices of cauliflower and bean witnessed a hike by Tk 5.0 per kg on Saturday, compared to a day before.

• Higher prices of almost all the daily essentials remained unchanged 

Skyrocketing prices of essential commodities including rice, pulses, eggs, vegetables have caused extreme hardship to low-income people. They are spending their days in despair due to lack of purchasing power compared to their income.

With the price of rice, the main staple, shooting up twice in the last three months, people and low income earners in particular, are suffering the most. 

Impacts of the recent fuel price hike, and increase of rice procurement price at the government level have caused prices to skyrocket. However, wholesale traders have alleged that prices are being manipulated by creating an artificial crisis.

Rice prices in the domestic market have been rising sharply since June, when the rate of rice price increase was 15.18% on average, followed by 15.82% and 15.62% in July and August. Earlier, in April and May, the rate was 12.45% and 12.78% respectively.

"The sudden skyrocketing of rice prices usually forces low earners to reduce their rice consumption," Moinul Islam, former professor at the Economics Department of the University of Chittagong, told The Business Standard.

"These families spend 50-60% of their income on food and the most amount is spent on rice. According to various statistics, over 66% of families reduce their staple consumption," he added.

According to traders at Chattogram'sKhatunganj, the country's largest wholesale market, the price of rice had already been on an upward trend due to the fuel price hike. On top of it, the supply of rice from different parts of the country has declined over the last one week.

As a result, the price has gone up by Tk100 to Tk250 per 50kg sack while the warehouses are showing a crisis in supply, they said.

Prices of parboiled varieties, including Sharna, Miniket, Kajollata and Jirashail, per 50Kg have increased by Tk200 and are being sold at Tk2300, Tk2500, Tk2700 and Tk3100 respectively while the parboiled Paijam variety price has gone up by Tk150 and is being sold at Tk2500.

On the other hand, prices of sun-dried varieties of Miniket have soared by Tk100 and are being sold at Tk2600 per 50Kg, Irri increased by Tk200 and is being sold at Tk2000 while Katari is being sold at Tk3400.  

Prices in the retail market have also gone up by Tk4-5 per kilogram.

Farid Uddin Ahmed, general secretary of "ChaktaiShilpaBanikSamiti", told The Business Standard, "Importers did not import even 25% of what they said they were going to because the prices do not match with the local market. So the prices have gone up a bit."

However, he claimed that prices are beginning to decrease.

AbdusSattar, owner of Khan Department Store, said, "Prices in the domestic market are on the rise due to rising prices of Indian rice."

Meanwhile, the government has set a target of procuring 3 lakh tonnes of paddy and 5 lakh tonnes of parboiled rice in the current food procurement season, which will continue till 28 February 2022.

On November 8, the food ministry issued a special directive to ensure fair prices for farmers.

Based on the circular, signed by NazmanaraKhanum, secretary at the food ministry, the government purchase price of Aman paddy was later fixed at Tk27 per kg and purchase price of rice was set at Tk40 per kg through an agreement with millers.

Broiler becomes costlier 

Broiler chicken, one of the key protein sources for the common people, became costlier in Dhaka city’s kitchen markets on Saturday, increasing their sufferings further.

Apart from this, prices of cauliflower and bean witnessed a hike by Tk 5.0 per kg on Saturday, compared to a day before.

Higher prices of almost all the daily essentials remained unchanged, according to traders and consumers.

However, the prices of imported garlic and ginger saw a drastic decline.

Pakistani, Sonali and layer chicken and eggs, another key protein source for the common people, remained static maintaining the previous hike.

Prices of newly harvested local onion, one of the main cooking ingredients, remained static at wholesale and retail markets.

Stakeholders said prices of many other essentials remained steady, at a higher level in most cases.

Broiler chicken was selling at Tk 185-Tk 190 a kg at the retail level, Rasel (single name), a salesman at New Bismillah Broiler at MohammadpurKrishi Market, said. 

Layer chicken was selling at Tk 205 per kg at wholesale level Saturday, he stated. The retailers were selling layer chicken at Tk 215-Tk 220 per kg, he mentioned.

Red eggs were selling at Tk 95 a dozen at the retail level in the same market, Rasel added.

The retail price of broiler chicken was reported to be Tk 151-Tk 166 a kg, according to the Department of Agriculture Marketing (DAM).

Retail price of imported garlic was reported to be Tk 143-Tk 152 a kg, according to DAM.

Retail price of imported ginger was reported to be Tk 84-Tk 95 per kg, it added.

Akash (single name), a vendor at MohammadpurKrishi Market, said the wholesale price of imported garlic was reported to be Tk 115 on Saturday whereas it was Tk 140-Tk 150 a day before.

He added the wholesale price of imported ginger was Tk 90, which was Tk110-Tk 120.

Imported ginger was selling at Tk 100 a kg at the wholesale level on Saturday, said vendor Akash.

The newly harvested onion was selling at Tk 30-Tk 32 a kg at the wholesale level, according to him.

Prices of imported Indian onion remained Tk 42 a kg at the wholesale level, he added.

Items such as flour, edible oil and sugar witnessed no remarkable change either, meaning that the previous higher level of prices continued on Saturday.

This correspondent was also told that prices of brinjals, pumpkins, bitter gourd, pointed gourd, newly harvested potatoes and green chilli remained steady in the past few days.

A vegetable vendor, Faruk (single name), claimed that prices of almost all vegetables remained unchanged on Saturday.

The wholesale price of cauliflower was Tk 25 on Saturday whereas it was Tk 20 a day before, he said.

The wholesale price of bean was Tk 35 on Saturday whereas it was Tk 30 a day before, he added.  

The new potato was selling at Tk 16 a kg at the wholesale level, vendor Faruk added.

Jubayer Hossain, a wholesaler at MohammadpurKrishi Market, said the prices of flour, edible oil, sugar and lentils remained high.