Bangladesh government plans buffer stock of essentials to prevent Ramadan price fluctuation

Published 13 Feb,2021 via The Financial Express - The government plans to import or buy locally around 0.143 million tonnes of key essential items to face any crisis or price spiral in future especially during the holy month of Ramadan, officials said.

A buffer stock of such products will be built up to offset the shortage of kitchen items to be collected through the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), they added.

The items include sugar, edible oil, onion, lentils, gram and date etc.

The TCB will import essential goods or procure them locally to help keep the commodity market stable in future especially during the holy month of Ramadan, a commerce ministry source said.

The TCB sells essential commodities at subsidized rates to keep the commodity market stable. The prices of commodities may go up in the domestic and international markets. So, the government is prepared to successfully intervene in the market in the coming days, he added.

The commerce ministry at a recent meeting decided to take necessary steps to stabilize the prices of key kitchen items during the holy month.

"We have discussed issues relating to prices, supply and stock of essential items in the meeting. The ministry has taken necessary measures to ensure an adequate supply of these products in the market during the upcoming fasting month," said an official who attended the meeting.

The government's agency concerned will closely monitor and watch the supply and price movements so that manipulators cannot create any artificial crisis in the kitchen market, according to a meeting source.

Usually, the common people of the country suffer a lot due to an unusual hike in the prices of key essential items during Ramadan and Eid-ul-Azha.

The government has already approved purchase of 0.15 million tonnes of onion through TCB. The agency has imported 80,000 tonnes of onions and it would collect more or less 50,000 tonnes of onions from local sources, if necessary. Presently, the TCB has a stock of 25,000/30,000 tonnes of onion.

The government has also set a target to procure 50,000 tonnes of soybean oil through the state agency for the current calendar year. The TCB has already completed the necessary process of procuring 23,000 tonnes of edible oil.

Now the private-sector companies have a stock of some 0.263 million tonnes of edible oil.

The state-run TCB has also planned to purchase 25,000 tonnes of sugar and 10,000 tonnes of lentils.

Besides, the agency has planned to import 8,000 tonnes of gram and 500 tonnes of date ahead of Ramadan.

The TCB will go for rationing essential items in different parts of the country during the period, using its trucks in Dhaka, Chattogram, divisional cities and district towns.

It will sell different types of commodities such as onion, sugar, soybean oils, lentils, gram and date, according to the TCB.

The state agency will start selling key essential commodities at subsidized rates during the holy month to help keep the prices and supplies stable during Ramadan.

At present, onion and edible oils etc are being sold at subsidized rates in different parts of Dhaka city.

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