Editorial
TCB's role in Ramadan market
Should ensure adequacy and timeliness
THE state-owned trading body, Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB)'s entry into the market ahead of the Ramadan with a view to supplying some daily essentials to the citizens at a fair price as well as having a stabilising impact on the otherwise unsteady market is a welcome move.
Reactivating the TCB, which has been in hibernation for years, is a difficult task. But the government seems to have overcome it. Now after formal launching of the marketing activity through allotment of the essential commodities like sugar and edible oil by TCB to its appointed dealers, questions are being raised even by some dealers as to the efficacy of the present arrangements. For there is the challenge of meeting the huge gap between the actual demand and the scanty stock so far of the commodities at TCB's disposal. Moreover, the selling prices for the supplied commodities fixed by the government have a rather low margin of profitability compared to the existing price level in the open market.
However, the question of creating necessary motivation among dealers to sell at a low profit margin has no simple answer. To overcome this drawback, the TCB may consider its own selling outlets at the city wards and other important points in the capital.
So far as the price stabilising potential of the TCB's present move is concerned, it will be oddly matched against the open market operators, if only due to its rather low market coverage at 15 per cent. So, to be able to deliver properly, the trading wing of the government will have to make the most of the resources in its hand and do that most efficiently. Otherwise all the fanfare made thus far over TCB's intervention in the market runs the risk of ending on a whimper.
The high hopes created over TCB's participation in the market during Ramadan in particular had to do mostly with volatility in the prices of essentials blamed largely on the machinations of some syndicates. But that TCB has meanwhile started its operation with the help of its appointed dealers, the people will now expect it to perform.
It is hoped that the government is well aware of the limitations of its present arrangement vis-à-vis the actual demand to be made on its service. At the same time, the threat from the evil nexus of so-called syndicates as well as the unscrupulous market operators will be there. So, to deliver according to its promises will remain an uphill task. To face up to this challenge, it will also have to ensure a round-the-clock monitoring of the prices at the important points in the market and keep law-enforcers ready for action against the market manipulators.
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