by Staff Correspondent
The sugar price has risen in the local markets ahead of holy Ramadhan even despite the National Board of Revenue (NBR) reduced tariff on import of raw and refined sugar on November 2, 2023 in an attempt to contain price and give a sigh of relief to consumers.
Business leaders have cited the dollar-crisis, massive devaluation of local currency taka against the greenback, complication in opening of letter of credit (LC), manipulation of market by some unscrupulous businessmen and rise in consumption of the sugar during the holy Romadhan.
Meanwhile, retailers and wholesalers at Karwan Bazar and Moulvibazar markets said both refiners and dealers have increased the price of sweetener before holy Shab-e-Barat
Sugar was selling at Tk 140 to Tk 145 per kilogramme, up from Tk 130 to Tk 135 a week earlier, according to data compiled by state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.
This means the price has increased by 7.55 percent in the past week.
The NBR, however, retained the 15 percent value-added tax and the 30 regulatory duty on raw and refined sugar imports.
Sugar was sold at Tk 6,900 per 50-kg sack, which was Tk 6,400 a week ago, according to Tanvir Hossain, a wholesaler in the capital’s Karwan Bazar, one of the biggest kitchen markets in the city
“When dealers have been asked about the reason for the price increase, they said that it has gone up mainly because of the shortage of the US dollar. Besides, the increase in the price of sugar in the international market has affected the local market.”
In the international market, the price of sugar was $0.40 per kg in the July-September period of 2022 and it rose to $0.54 in January-September this year, according to World Bank data on commodity prices. It increased to $0.57 in October.
Mockbul Hossain, a wholesaler, said he received 15 sacks of sugar against a demand for 20 to 30 sacks and that too came after trying for a week.
Enamul Haque, a retailer in the port city of Chattogram, said he was selling sugar at Tk 142 to Tk 150 per kg. One week ago, it was Tk 130 to Tk 132.
Abdur Razzak, a wholesaler in the Khatunganj market, sold sugar at Tk 5,000 per maund (37.32 kgs), which was Tk 4,700 a week ago.
Md Taslim Shahriar, senior assistant general manager of Meghna Group of Industries, while talking to the media, said the market has been affected by the rising prices in the international market and the high cost of the dollar.
Before the Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022, Bangladesh currency taka was hovering around 85 against the US dollar …….then suddenly the taka lost against the dollars and is now hovering around 125-130 in the kerb market, source said
The taka has lost its value by some 30–35 percent against the greenback since January last year, making imports costlier.
“We face difficulty in opening the sufficient quantity of letters of credit,” Shahriar said.
Bangladesh consumes 20 lakh to 22 lakh tonnes of sugar each year. Of the volume, local mills produce 30,000 to 35,000 tonnes, forcing the country to rely on imports facilitated by five
According to the Bangladesh Bank data, Bangladesh imported sugar worth valued at US $731 million in 2012-13 fiscal year, US $902 million US dollars in 2013-14FY, US $743.00 million in 2014-15FY, US$ 660.7 million in 2015-16FY, US$ 841.00 million, US$ in 2016-17 FY, US$ 951 million in 2017-18 FY, US$646.5 million in 2018FY-19, US $ 629.3 million in 2019—20 FY, US$ 816.5 million in 2020-21 FY, US$ 1186.2 million in 2021-22 and US$ 910 .5 million in 2022-23 FY..
Bangladesh imported 754,122 tonnes of sugar during July-January period of the current fiscal year with 692,325 tonnes of raw sugar and 61,797 tonnes of refined sugar, according to available data of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), National Board of Revenue (NBR) and Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission (BTTB).
Meanwhile, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) has lifted customs tariff and reduced regulatory duty on rice, sugar and dates and lifted value added tax on edible oil to boost supply and contain prices of the essentials during the month of Ramadan, beginning in March.
owing to the tax cut, importers now need to pay Tk 1,500 as the specific duty to buy each tonne of raw sugar from international markets, down from Tk 3,000 earlier.
Similarly, the specific duty on refined sugar was slashed to Tk 3,000 from Tk 6,000.
It reduced the specific duty for import of raw sugar to Tk 1,000 per tonne from Tk 1,500 earlier.
The revenue authority also cut import duty for dates, mostly consumed during the fasting month of Ramadan, to 15 percent from 25 percent.
The new rates have already become effective.
mukul/dhaka
