Travel  |  Business World  |  Women's World  |  Entertainment

Change Your Life!

“There is nothing to worry about sugar”: Jalil

News
Sports
Chat
Travel
Dhaka Today
Yellow Pages
Higher Education
Ask a Doctor
Weather
Currency Rate
Horoscope
E-Cards
B2K Poll
Comment on the Site
B2K Club

October 13, 2000 

Dhaka-- (UNB)- Commerce Minister Abdul Jalil yesterday denied shortage of sugar in the country and blamed hoarders for the price hike in the market.

Addressing a press conference in the backdrop of sugar price soaring to around Tk 36 in the city market Jalil said they were closely monitoring the situation and local administration was asked to keep vigilance against hoarding.

There is no crisis of sugar in the country and the government has made adequate arrangements to ensure smooth supply of sugar in the market, Commerce Minister said.

“There is nothing to worry about sugar,” Abdul Jalil told a correspondent who pointed to the market where sugar sells at Tk 36 to 37 per kg causing worries to the consumers.

The minister blamed a section of unscrupulous traders for hoarding sugar and creating an artificial crisis, resulting in price hike.

The government wholly controls import and marketing of sugar has fixed the wholesale price at Tk 28 per kg.

The minister said the country’s annual sugar consumption stands at 3.60 lakh tons while local production last year was only 1.24 lakh tons. To meet the gap, government earlier decided to import 2 lakh tons through official channels - one lakh tons through BSFIC and another one lakh tons through TCB.

Jalil said both the corporations have already completed all formalities to import the sugar and gave it to the market through appointed dealers.

Unofficial estimate however say the annual consumption would be no less than 6 lakh tons and the gap is met by sugar smuggled from India where sugar price in retail market is almost half the price here.

Market observers said disruption of informal trade of sugar due to the current flooding of the western border belt has contributed to the recent price spiral.

Sugar price shot up to US$304 per ton from US$ 232 in international market as soon as the two state-owned bodies started importing sugar. Yet the government has kept the wholesale price unchanged, Jalil said.

More consignments of imported sugar are coming and on the other hand, local sugar mills will go into production by this month. “So sugar price will remain normal as soon as imported and locally produced sugar come to the market,” the minister said.

To keep supply smooth and price stable during the upcoming month of Ramzan, the government has planned to import additional 50,000 tons of sugar, he added. TCB has already floated tenders for this and it is likely to reach the country by December.

He expected to build a buffer stock of sugar from import and domestic production.