Coarse rice price rose by 31pc in a yr

The prices of coarse rice shot up by more than 31 percent and wheat by 48 percent in the last one year, Commerce Minister Faruk Khan told parliament yesterday.

In response to queries from lawmakers in the House, the minister said palm and soybean oil saw an increase in their prices by 60 and 45 percent whereas the prices of lentil, onion and potato fell by 7.5, 12 and 36 percent.

Faruk said the price of coarse rice now stands at Tk 34 to 37 a kg, which was Tk 26 to 28 a year ago. Wheat is sold for Tk 32 to 36 that was Tk 21 to 25 a kg on retail market a year back.

The price of palm oil was Tk 59 to 61 and soybean oil Tk 72 to 74 a litre a year ago. But now palm oil is sold for Tk 96 to 97 a litre and soybean oil for Tk 105 to 108 a litre at retail.

The commerce minister said the price of lentil, however, has come down to Tk 90 to 95 from Tk 98 to 102 a kg at retail a year back.

The government has taken measures including import of essentials by Trading Corporation of Bangladesh to control essentials prices, said Faruk.

He said the commerce ministry, the consumer rights protection directorate and market monitoring team have been conducting drives through mobile courts to prevent market manipulation at district and upazila level.

The minister said 1,029 unscrupulous traders were identified and fined in the capital's wholesale and retail market in the last one year.

Faruk said his ministry has drafted a law to regulate multi-level marketing (MLM) companies to protect people from deception by any such company.

"The draft will be finalised soon and sent to the cabinet for approval," the commerce minister said in response to a query from an Awami League lawmaker.

AL lawmaker Sadhana Halder in her scripted question said MLM companies have been cheating people, and she wanted to know whether the government would take any step to prevent that.

In a scripted answer to another query, the commerce minister said there are 62 registered MLM companies in the country. Of them, Destiny 2000 Ltd has 45 lakh clients. But the ministry did not have the number of clients of other companies.

(Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=176716)