Cigarettes become costlier on increased duty proposal
The prices of most of the kitchen items soared on the markets in the capital a day after the announcement of the proposed national budget for the next financial year 2014-15.
The commodities including vegetables, broiler, beef and egg increased in the city’s retail market. The prices of different brands of cigarettes had increased ahead of the budget announcement as there was an indication that the government would impose duty on tobacco products. The finance minister on Thursday proposed an increased duty on the product in the budget.
But the prices of the products for which duty reduction has been proposed in the budget remained unchanged.
Finance minister AMA Muhith on Thursday in his budget speech in parliament proposed to reduce duty on a good number of commodity including soap and detergent powder, potato chips, nut, chocolate and cosmetics.
But the items were being sold at the previous prices on Friday, traders said.
Muhith also proposed to reduce tax on local letters of credit for daily necessary consumer items including rice, onion, dal, turmeric, chilli, wheat, maize, flour, salt, edible oil and sugar.
Traders said the proposals were yet to put an impact on the market.
The prices of aubergine, cucumber, tomato, papaya, okra, and bitter gourd increased by Tk 5-Tk 20 a kilogram on Friday.
Aubergine was retailing at Tk 50-Tk 60 a kg, cucumber at Tk 40 a kg, tomato at Tk 50 a kg, papaya at Tk 40 a kg, okra at Tk 40 a kg and bitter gourd at Tk 40 a kg on the day.
The price of green chilli remained unchanged and it was selling at Tk 70-Tk 80 a kg on Friday.
The price of broiler increased by Tk 10 a kg and the item was selling at Tk 160-Tk 165 a kg on the day.
Traders said that the prices of kitchen items increased due to a supply shortage not for budget announcement.
Azizur Rahman, a trader at the Shantinagar kitchen market, told New Age on Friday that the price hike of vegetables was not related to the
budget announcement, rather a supply shortage due to heavy rainfall in different parts of the country pushed their prices up.
Masum Hosain, owner of Shourov Broiler House at the Hatirpool kitchen market, said that the price of the item increased from the grower level that affected retail market.
The price of beef increased by Tk 20 a kg and the item was selling at Tk 300 a kg while mutton was selling at Tk 450 a kg on Friday.
The price of egg increased by Tk 2 a hali (four pieces) and was retailing at Tk 30 a hali in the city’s markets.
The prices of fish remained unchanged.
Rohita was selling at Tk 250-Tk 300 a kg, katla at Tk 220-Tk 300 a kg, pangas at Tk 140-Tk 200 a kg and tilapia at Tk 140-Tk 160 a kg, depending on their size and quality.
The price of local onion remained unchanged and it was selling at Tk 35 a kg while the imported one was selling at Tk 30 a kg on Friday.
Both unpacked soya bean and super palm oil prices remained unchanged and the commodities were retailing at Tk 112 a kg and Tk 90 a kg respectively on the day.
The price of bottled soya bean oil (five litres) remained unchanged and it was selling at Tk 550 to Tk 565 in the city’s kitchen markets.
The prices of garlic and ginger remained unchanged and were retailing at Tk 80 a kg and Tk 220 a kg respectively.
Red lentil imported from Turkey and Canada was selling at Tk 85-Tk 90 a kg over the week.
The price of fine variety of red lentil called ‘kangaroo’ was selling at Tk 130 a kg on Friday while the local variety of red lentil was selling at Tk 115 a kg.
The price of sugar remained steady and the commodity was selling at Tk 48-Tk 50 a kg on the day.
-With New Age input
