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In the Bangladeshi retail market, the price of frozen potatoes ranges from Rs 22-28 per kg throughout the year. When the new potatoes are harvested at home in January and February, the price is below Rs.
Since the beginning of this month of October, the price of potatoes has started to rise by 25 Tk per kg. In just one week, the retail price exceeds Rs 50. After that, the government set the maximum retail price for potatoes at 30 Tk. By not being able to enforce this order, the Department of Agricultural Marketing has increased the price of potatoes by 5 taka to a maximum of 35 taka per kg.
Mohammad Zahirul Islam, a merchant at Rahman Cold Storage in Rajshahi, expressed dissatisfaction with the decision and told bdnews24.com: I myself lost last year.
“Everybody wants to make a small profit this time because the market is good. Although the government did not intervene in the losses, now it has made a profit.”
According to the Department of Agricultural Marketing, a government agency, the cost of potato production per kg is Rs.
The price of potatoes set by the government at 35 Tk per kg was seen on Thursday at Karwan Bazar in Dhaka. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Avi
Apart from potato growers, moneylenders, cold store owners, traders, stockists and wholesalers also deliver potatoes to retailers. Consumers get potatoes from there.
The analysis of public spending shows that the maximum price of potatoes was 14 rupees per kg when stored in cold rooms this season. Cold storage costs Tk 3 6 paise per kg, selection costs Tk 48 paise, weight loss is Tk 6 paise, principal interest and other expenses are Tk 2. In other words, the maximum cost of keeping a kg of potato is 21 rupees.
Last month, the price of potatoes on the Dhaka market was between Rs 25-30 per kg. Looking for the reason why the price of that potato suddenly rose to Tk 50, it is seen that the price of the potato is increasing as it is taken out of the cold room.
Most of the country’s potatoes come from Munshiganj, a district near Dhaka. In addition, Bogra, Pabna, Natore, Rajshahi, Rangpur and other northern districts also get a lot of potatoes. Farmers and moneylenders in the Munshiganj and Rajshahi region say the price of potatoes continues to rise each year towards the end of the season. However, it lasts a maximum of a week or a little longer.
According to trader Zahirul Islam, the reduction in potato stocks is the reason for the price increase about two months ago.
“Eighty percent of the potatoes in each cold store have been used up. That’s when the price of potatoes went up. He had 500 sacks of potatoes. 300 bags have been sold, ”he said.
Fazlur Rahman, owner of five cold stores in the Rajshahi region, echoed his sentiments.
He told bdnews24.com that 75 percent of his warehouses’ storage capacity had been filled this time due to “low potato cultivation.” About 80 percent of the potatoes have already been destined for consumption. There are now around two lakh of sacks of potatoes, of which 40 percent will be used in the new seedbed. “
Ars Dewan, director of Dewan Cold Storage in Muktarpur, one of Munshiganj’s largest cold rooms, said they now have around 130,000 bags of edible potatoes in their cold room. And there is one more lakh of potato sacks to use as seeds.
The potatoes were sold at a price of Tk 30 per kg set by the government at Dhaka’s Karwan Bazar on Thursday. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Avi
He said that in recent months, 2,000 to 3,000 bags of potatoes were leaving his warehouse daily. After the recent price hike, the potato unloading situation started to change.
“The government began operations after setting prices to control the market. As a result, the sale of potatoes is reduced. It has been seen that the moneylenders did not take out 500 sacks of potatoes a day. Now we have been given an unwritten instruction from the administration to unload three thousand bags of potatoes a day. We do not have any advantages or disadvantages in doing this. We will calculate the stock of the lenders and we will take out three thousand bags of potatoes ”.
If you take out 3,000 sacks of potatoes a day, you will get a supply of potatoes from your cold room for about a month and a half. On the other hand, it will take a couple more months for the new potatoes to arrive in the country. Many speculate that the new potatoes may arrive later, as the floods have damaged early planting.
“It is estimated that the potatoes in the country will end on December 10,” he said. However, if the arrival of new potatoes is delayed due to flooding, there could be a problem, ”said Fazlur, owner of a cold room in Rajshahi.
However, as a government, the stock of potatoes in the country should be much larger. According to the Department of Agricultural Marketing, Bangladesh produced 19 million tons of potatoes last season, with an annual demand of 6 million tons. As such, there should be a surplus of 31 lakh tonnes of potatoes.
Long lines of shoppers to buy Tk 25 kg of TCB potatoes in the Khamarbari area of the capital on Thursday. The government agency has been selling potatoes at 25 Tk per kg by truck since Wednesday amid unusual prices. Photo: Asif Mahmud Avi
Efforts are underway to standardize the withdrawal of food from cold storage based on adequate stocks of potatoes.
However, a trader named Afzal Hossain said that even after that, cold storage traders would not agree to deliver the potatoes at the price set by the government.
Afzal, a supplier of potatoes from the Rajshahi region to Dhaka, told bdnews24.com: Potatoes are not available.
“In the last two weeks, I have lost around Tk 10 lakh by sending trucks to Khulna and Dhaka. I sent a truck to Khulna with a purchase price of Rs 42. But it had to be sold for Rs 30. There has been a loss of around two and a half lakh rupees. The shopkeeper has sold under pressure from the government. The merchants sold the 42 rupees I sent to Dhaka for between 34 and 38 rupees. “
Like Afzal Hossain, another businessman named Abdul Gaffar recently claimed to have lost money investing in wholesale potatoes. They supply Rajshahi potatoes to Dhaka, Khulna, Jessore, Sylhet and Comilla.
According to the two traders, after the start of the season every year, the sale of potatoes starts from Tk 16 to Tk 18. At the end of the season, the price of potatoes for a few days is 40 rupees. But last year, due to large stocks and the arrival of new potatoes ahead of schedule, the price of refrigerated potatoes fell to Tk 12.
The TCB van in front of the National Press Club was closed for some time due to the rain. However, buyers did not leave the line to buy potatoes, legumes, onions, oil and sugar. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Avi
That is why Afzal and Gaffar claimed that they lost 10-12 lakh rupees storing potatoes in cold rooms last year.
Demanding to pay attention to traders as well, trader Fazlur said: “The price of potatoes falls below Tk 20 at the end of each year due to the high yield. So many people sell potatoes from the cold store at a loss.
“In the last 10 years, many farmers have committed suicide and some have fled their homes due to debt,” he said. The government did not take the news from the farmer at the time. How reasonable is this type of intervention now that prices have temporarily risen? “
Meanwhile, Golam Rahman, president of the Bangladesh Consumers Association (CAB), a civic body, has demanded appropriate measures to ensure that consumers get potatoes at prices set by the government.
He told bdnews24.com: “The government has decided the price of the potato in this situation after considering everything.” We want to have confidence in those steps of the government. However, in the case of monitoring, the level of cold storage should be given more importance than the retail market.
An employee measures potatoes at TCB’s mobile sales center in the Khamarbari area of the capital on Thursday. The government marketing company started selling potatoes at 25 Tk / kg by truck on Wednesday amid unusual prices. Photo: Asif Mahmud Avi
“For now, retail markets may have a few more days. Because if a trader buys potatoes at a higher price, he will not be able to sell them at a lower price. In that case, it would not be correct to force someone to sell at a lower price. They must be given the opportunity to sell the products they have purchased. “
Dhaka Market Situation
When the price of potatoes started to rise earlier this month, the Department of Agricultural Marketing set the price of the product at all stages on October 8 after analyzing the cost of production and the market for the product.
The maximum retail price is Rs 30 per kg and the potato price is set at Rs 25 per kg in the wholesale yard and Rs 23 per kg in cold storage. But the market did not see its implementation.
Later, on October 20, the price was increased again by Tk 5 and the retail price of potatoes was set at Tk 35 per kg. Furthermore, the price is set at 28 Tk for cold storage and 30 Tk for wholesale.
Potatoes are now combined with all other daily necessities in TCB trucks. Potatoes are sold at 25 Tk per kg. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Avi
Although the market has come under some control due to these activities, potatoes are still retailed at a price of Rs 43-45 per kg. Some stores in the wholesale market sell potatoes at Rs 33 to Rs 36. Due to the situation, many stockists have reduced their stocks of potatoes.
Mostafa Kamal, director of Shahali Bogdadia’s warehouse in Mirpur, said that he last sold potatoes at 38 Tk / kg. However, no trader has brought in new potatoes in the last week. Sales have stopped.
Mohammad Selim, another trader in the Mirpur-1 area, said on Wednesday: “There has been no trade for the last two days after the government set the price. Because the price that the government has asked sellers to sell is much higher than the purchase price. We have told the traders to return the potatoes if they do not sell them. “
On Thursday, several stores in Karwanbazar were seen selling potatoes at Tk 36. However, there was no activity in many markets in this market.
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