Sugar still selling above govt-fixed price in Ctg

Sugar is still selling at a high price in Chattogram, in clear defiance of the rate fixed by the government almost a week ago. Traders have held importers and producers responsible for the high price. 

On 6 April, the government set the retail price of loose sugar at Tk104 per kg and packaged sugar at Tk109, which was supposed to have been effective from 8 April.

Even after a week, importers, wholesalers and marketing agencies are not complying with the fixed rate, and selling sugar at up by Tk16 than the fixed price, for a kg.

On Thursday, per kg of loose sugar was selling at Tk120 and packaged sugar at Tk125 in markets and grocery stores in the port city. Traders said that sugar price has been on the rise for more than two months at the wholesale and retail levels in Chattogram.

Traders at the Khatunganj wholesale commodity market were selling per maund [37.32kg] of sugar at Tk4,080, up from Tk4,000 the previous week, meaning the price has risen by Tk80 per maund, or over Tk2 a kg, in the last two weeks.  

Sugar wholesaler Aman Ullah at the Khatunganj market told The Business Standard that sugar price is increasing in the domestic market despite the fact that the rate has been declining for more than three months in the international market. 

"At the beginning of January, wholesale sugar was sold for up to Tk3,500 per maund, which has now crossed Tk4,000 in a span of three months, meaning the wholesale price of sugar has increased by Tk500 per maund, which is very abnormal," he added.

Another sugar wholesaler, Abdur Razzaq, proprietor of M/S Ismail Traders in the Khatunganj market, said, "The government has fixed the retail price of loose sugar at Tk104 a kg. But wholesale sugar is selling at Tk4,080 per maund, meaning the wholesale price of sugar is Tk109.32 a kg".   

Importing companies have destabilised the market amid an absence of monitoring by organisations responsible for market control, alleged traders.

Mohammad Foyez Ullah, deputy director of the Directorate of National Consumers' Rights Protection in Chattogram, told TBS that the authorities have been conducting regular drives to control the market, with checking on edible oil and sugar sales being the priority.

"No trader is allowed to sell products at a price higher than the government-fixed rate. We will monitor this issue more seriously," he added.

Pradeep Karan, deputy general manager (sales) of Citigroup, told TBS that due to the upward price of the dollar, extra money has to be coughed up to pay the import price, despite a decrease in the booking price of sugar in the international market. 

In the first six months (July-December) of the current 2022-23 fiscal year, 735,574 tonnes of sugar have been imported into the country, with 375,099 tonnes imported in the three months from January to March.

At present, the annual demand for sugar in the country is around 18-20 lakh tonnes. In the last two years, government production of sugar has dropped below 50,000 tonnes from 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh tonnes after six of the 15 state-owned mills halted production, leading to sole dependence on private mills for sugar.