Bangladeshi Newspaper | Govt slashes sugar price to Tk 55 a kg

The government has slashed the price of sugar by Tk 5 per kilogram to sell at Tk 55 in the retail market and Tk 50 at wholesale in the month of Ramadan to keep the price within the reach of the consumers and protect market against manipulation. 
Industries minister Dilip Barua on Wednesday announced the re-fixed price at a press conference at his office following huge criticism for selling sugar at higher price than the market price.
‘We fixed the price of sugar at Tk 60 at retail level to ensure that the unscrupulous businessmen could not increase its price and to keep the market stable in Ramadan,’ Dilip Barua said.
Now as the sugar market became stable, the government slashed the price, he said, adding that the new price would remain effective only in the month of Ramadan.
The government would take stern action if the shopkeepers sell sugar at prices higher than the government fixed rate, he warned.
Earlier on July 4, Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation launched the sale of packaged sugar at Tk 60 per kilogram in Dhaka city drawing huge criticism that the government is selling sugar at higher price than the market price. Sugar was selling between Tk 54 and 55 in the retail market.
The BSFIC sugar would be available at Tk 50,000 per metric tonne (Tk 50 per kg) in the wholesale market, Dilip said.
It would sell sugar at its outlets and through mobile trucks in the city. The state-run sugar producing organisation would sell sugar across the country through the district administration.
The BSFIC has a stock of 1,74,795 tonnes of sugar, of which 1,06,796 tonnes of sugar were imported and the rest produced by BSFIC factories.
Dilip Barua said that Bangladesh’s annual sugar demand was around 14-15 lakh tonnes.