Prices of all kinds of essentials, including rice, lentils, vegetables, fish and meat, have risen.

Prices of essential goods have suddenly gone up, leaving people on low and limited incomes worried. Monthly shopping costs have risen by at least 10 to 20 percent.

Alauddin works at a private company in the capital on a salary of Tk 13,000. "No one understands the terrible hardship of people like us. Salaries don't go up every year. This life is truly unbearable," he said.

"So I am standing here to buy from the TCB truck, in case I can save a little. The queue is so long I don't think I'll get anything today. Yesterday (Wednesday) I waited about an hour in front of this truck in Malibagh and then left."

Alauddin is not alone; many people on limited incomes face the same situation, with nothing to do but sigh.

With prices of rice, lentils, onions, sugar and other essential foods rising again and again, the truck sale programme run by the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) is struggling to cope with the crowds. At various spots in the capital, queues of 50 to 60 buyers were seen in front of each truck, far more than usual.

In some places people were seen queuing at these open-air sale points before the trucks even arrived.

Sellers said that the truck sales used to draw mainly low-income people such as day labourers, rickshaw pullers, drivers and domestic workers. Now middle-class people are crowding the queues too, which adds to the pressure.

Kamal, a dealer who runs a TCB truck sale in Meradia, said: "When essential food prices rise, people crowd to us. We usually sell to people on low incomes, but the picture is different now. Many are crowding in because it is cheaper than the ordinary market."

"We used to finish selling our goods by evening. Now everything is gone within about two hours. Because our allocation is small, many go back empty-handed. It is far less than the demand," he said.

Humayun Kabir, a senior executive at TCB, said: "Considering consumer demand, TCB is now supplying 10 to 12 percent of goods, up from only 1 to 2 percent before. Truck sales have been increased as demand has risen."

He added: "TCB goods are being sold all year round. In the past year they were sold every month; no month was missed. The volume of sales will also increase step by step."

Buyers, however, have urged the government to increase TCB's capacity further so that they can save at least a little.

TCB officials said the commerce ministry took the initiative to keep essential goods prices bearable. Truck sales are closed on the weekly holiday. Three items are available at low prices: soybean oil at Tk 100 a litre, and lentils and sugar at Tk 55 a kg.

They said each truck is allocated 500 to 800 litres of oil, 400 to 600 kg of sugar and 400 to 600 kg of lentils. On the open market, soybean oil is selling at Tk 150 a litre, sugar at Tk 78, and two kinds of lentils at Tk 100 and Tk 80.

Several people in charge of TCB truck sales said one person cannot take more than two kg. "The amount of goods we are given is not enough for everyone in the queue, so many have to go back."

TCB also said goods were sold through dealers from 74 trucks from its Dhaka regional office in the city and several nearby districts. Each truck is usually allocated 600 litres of soybean oil, 500 kg of sugar and 400 kg of lentils.

A tour of the markets found that coarse-grain lentils have risen the most. Large-grain lentils are selling at Tk 88 to 90 a kg, against Tk 75 to 80 two weeks ago. Last January, lentils of this quality were Tk 65 to 70 a kg.

Although the retail price of sugar has been fixed at Tk 75, sugar is not available at that price. Loose sugar is now selling at Tk 80 a kg and packaged sugar at Tk 85 to 90 a kg.

Prices of soybean and palm oil have also risen abnormally. Loose soybean oil is now selling at Tk 140 to 142 a kg, against Tk 137 to 138 at the start of September and Tk 122 to 124 last January. Bottled soybean oil is now Tk 153 to 160 a litre, up from Tk 145 to 149 until August and Tk 130 to 135 in January. Palm oil prices have risen along with soybean: loose and super palm oil are now selling at Tk 134 to 136 a kg, against Tk 122 to 128 until August and Tk 100 to 112 a kg in January.

Source: Dhaka Tribune. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.