Low earners suffer

“Son, please pay me a bit more than the actual fare. There is no one to help except you people. There is no way to survive by eating two handfuls. Prices of Rice, pulses, vegetables and everything are increasing day by day,” rickshaw puller Abdur Rahim said all these things in one breath and needless to mention he sounded helpless. He has a family of four members and lives in a slum at Madhubagh of the capital.

The ebb and flow of the pandemic has eroded people’s livelihoods for over a year and at this time the market seems to be experiencing an ‘epidemic’ of price hikes. The prices of the products, without which families can’t go by, have been skyrocketing for a long time. During the ongoing lockdown, the number of shoppers has increased everywhere, including vegetable markets, fish and meat markets and grocery stores. As a result, the shopkeepers are not being able to catch their breath. Taking advantage of this massive flow of customers, traders have increased prices of some products citing the supply crisis. Even with the month of Ramadan approaching prices of many products, including oil, are not being reined in. 

The prices of daily commodities including rice, pulses, oil, potatoes, onions and turnips have gone up in the last one week. The same situation is in the vegetable market. On the contrary, the prices of some products have dropped. There is stock and supply in proportion to the demand in the raw market. However in the market prices have increased, long brinjals are priced at 38 to 40 Tk per kg, round brinjals 50 to 55 Tk, bitter gourd 35 to 40 Tk, potato 38 to 40 Tk, bean 40 to 45 Tk, cucumber 36 to 40 Tk, papaya is being sold at Tk 30 to 35 Tk, chillies at Tk 50 to 60. Apart from vegetables, coarse rice is being sold at Tk 50 per kg, fine variety of rice at Tk 63 per kg, soybean oil at Tk 139 per liter, sugar at 74 taka, lentil is being sold at Tk 115 to 120, garlic is being sold at Tk 75-80 per kg and imported garlic at Tk 125-130 per kg and domestic ginger is being sold at 60 to 80 Tk. 

The Covid cases in the country are in its highest peak. We are in the middle of a government imposed seven-day lockdown. The income of many sectors has fallen. Some people have no income at all. Meanwhile, the price of rice in the market has not decreased by a single taka even after the opportunity to import. Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), the consumer rights organization, has not yet reported how much the cost of living has increased in 2020. It is usually published in early January. However, a comparative picture of the rise in prices of rice, pulses, oil and sugar has been obtained from them. It can be seen that the average price of coarse rice in 2020 was 21 percent higher than in 2019. Similarly, prices of bottled soybean 9, palm oil 18, sugar 20, coarse lentils 48 and domestic lentil pulses were 29 per cent higher.

Meanwhile, Ramadan is starting from next Wednesday. Every year during the month of Ramadan there is a high demand for a few products. This time the prices of those products have increased. However, the Ministry of Commerce has taken extensive preparations to provide relief to the people during Ramadan. Especially during Ramadan, there is a special initiative to increase the supply of the six products that are in high demand and sell them at a fair price. These six products include oil, sugar, gram, onion, pulses and dates.

All in all, people with limited income have to go to the market and make cuts, in some cases sacrifice quality and in some cases quantity of goods. Many are going for cheaper alternatives like Rui, Koi or Telapia fish instead of Ilish. Many have settled on medium rice in stead of fine rice. One such capital dweller, a housewife named Sonia Hossain, told this correspondent that she went to Fakirapool kitchen market on Friday. She wanted to buy 15 kg of rice and went to few shops to buy medium BR-28 rice at a slightly lower price if possible. “The shopkeepers are not willing to give even 1 taka discount,” she said with a heavy heart. 

“I have 800 taka, I bought rice for 540 taka. Now I have 260 taka, from which I will have to buy more products like, potatoes, onions, oil, and lentil enough for a family of 6 people. That is nearly impossible right now,” added Sonia.