Editorial
Pre-Ramadan market
Concrete measures to hold the priceline needed
The Bangla daily Prothom Alo reports it is widely believed in the business circles that except for sugar, prices of all other commodities are likely to increase in the month of Ramadan beginning September 25. Since there is no organised market forecasting system, we have to make do with what the businessmen are predicting by way of a starter. The international price of sugar having fallen sharply from US$500 to US$361 per tonne, its import price has markedly fallen. By contrast, international prices of other commodities that are Ramadan essentials have been on an upswing, with the result that their import prices are set to go up. The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) as the government sector warehouse was supposed to be importing essentials like sugar, onion, gram keeping in view the Ramadan market demands. But in reality, it has not imported any of these yet. The private sector businessmen for their part refrained from importing the essentials anticipating that the TCB would do it. Concomitantly, what has happened is that the supply side of these commodities remains abysmally weak in view of the high demand situation of the approaching month of Ramadan. Time is also running out; rush import will exact heavier prices with the brunt having to be taken by consumers in the end. Pakistan and India are said to be reducing import taxes on some essentials so that their prices at the consumer level are kept low. But fiscal adjustment is not the only option for bringing down the prices. In our peculiar situation much of the price spiral is directly linked to hoarding, market manipulation, profiteering, and extortion every step of the way during transportation of goods. The fact of the matter is, there are only 200 importers in the country of whom 15 to 20 large ones hold control of the market. This is an open invitation to forming syndicates. Unless the price manipulators are singled out and dealt with we will continue to live with higher prices.
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