Potatoes that worth 15 taka are now 80 taka.
Although the price of new potatoes has started to fall in the market, old potatoes are running in the opposite direction. They are being sold at a price of 5 to 10 taka per kg in a week.
However, these potatoes are bought from farmers for only 15 taka. Both consumers and sellers call such a price increase of old potatoes abnormal. They say that such a price increase of potatoes, which was once known as a cheap product, is not normal at all. Manipulators are hoarding potatoes bought from farmers at low prices and releasing them in the market at high prices under the pretext of supply shortage.
The report of the government agency TCB also shows a picture of abnormal price increase. According to the agency, the price of potatoes has increased by 30.43 percent in the last one month. And it has increased by 72.41 percent in the past year. Potatoes that were sold for 55 to 60 taka last month are now being sold for 80 taka. Last year, at this time, they were sold for 42 to 45 taka. In other words, potatoes, the hope of the poor, have become an expensive product in just one year.
Yesterday, several markets in the capital’s Kadamtali area saw that old potatoes were being sold for up to 80 taka per kg. In some places, they were also being sold for 78 taka. On the other hand, new potatoes were being sold for 100 to 120 taka. A week and a half ago, old potatoes were being sold for 70 to 75 taka and new potatoes for 120 to 140 taka. As the price of new potatoes decreased slightly, everyone expected that the price of old potatoes would also decrease. But the market is moving in the opposite direction. Although the price of new potatoes has decreased, the price of old potatoes has not. The prices of both types of potatoes are now out of reach of the common consumer.
Md. Milon, Ismail Hossain and other retailers of Kadamtali’s Saddam Market Bazar said that the way the price of potatoes has increased is not normal at all. Because these potatoes are bought from farmers for only 15 taka per kg. Even after adding the cost of cold storage, the price of potatoes should not be 80 taka per kg. The supply is low. But on this pretext, suppliers have increased the price excessively.
Shamsul Islam, a rickshaw puller in this area, is very upset about the price of potatoes. He said, “Earlier, when the prices of goods increased, we could survive by eating potatoes. These potatoes cost 80 taka per kg! If the price of cheap potatoes is 80 taka, how will low-income people like us survive?”
Md. Mujibar Miao, a wholesaler at Karwan Bazar, also said that at this time of the year, when the potato stock reaches the bottom, the price increases. It also increased last year. But the rate at which it has increased this time is excessive. We are buying from the cold storage at a higher price, so we have to sell at a higher price.
Another businessman, who did not want to be named, said that it is not the potatoes kept in the cold storage that are bought and sold, but only the receipts, and every time the receipt changes hands, the price also increases. As a result, additional hands are changing hands. The price is also increasing excessively.
A report by the Department of Agricultural Marketing in July revealed that these potatoes were bought at the farmer level at a price of 15 taka per kg. Whereas the production cost is 10.5 taka. All the costs together should not exceed 32 taka in the retail market. But a class of unscrupulous traders are artificially increasing the price of potatoes.
The report further states that like every year, the country’s potatoes have started to rise since February. A part of the potatoes come directly to the market from the farmer level. And the farmers have some stock and the rest is in cold storage. 24.92 lakh tons of potatoes are stored in 365 cold storages this year. After the farmers ran out of potatoes, the supply of potatoes from cold storage started coming to the market from June. But this supply is not happening properly.
SM Nazer Hossain, vice president of consumer rights organization Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), said that the old potatoes that are being sold in the market were bought from farmers at a price of 15 taka. However, the price of those potatoes is being increased step by step on the pretext of supply crisis and is now being sold at 80 taka. We have learned that farmers cannot directly store potatoes in cold storages. Here, cold storage owners, traders and their agents buy and store them from farmers and they release them in the market. The price is increasing excessively as they change hands. Apart from this, extortion in the market is another problem. Although these problems have come up repeatedly, there is no monitoring. The opportunists are taking advantage of this opportunity to make huge profits.
Meanwhile, the cold storage owners are reluctant to take responsibility for the abnormal price increase. Bangladesh Cold Storage Association President Mustafa Azad Chowdhury said, it is true that the price of potatoes increases in cold storage. But the cold storage owners have no involvement in the price increase. The stockholders and traders increase the price by changing hands. This time the production has also decreased a lot. On the other hand, the demand for potatoes has increased a lot. That is why the market is already high this time.
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