Beef price down; sugar, lentils up

The price of beef in the capital's kitchen markets has decreased surprisingly to Tk600-650 a kg from Tk780-800 two weeks ago, attracting more customers to the meat shops. Traders attributed the fall in the beef price to reduced demand for the product.

Khalil Gosto Bitan, a meat shop near Rampura Bazar in the capital, has been selling beef for Tk600 a kg for the past two or three days.

Shafiqul, a seller of the shop on Friday shared with The Business Standard that they had increased the share of bones and fat in beef to keep its price down.

Sources at the Bangladesh Meat Traders Association said that a shop in Bangshal first started the sale of beef for Tk580-600 a kg. After it spread on Facebook, many others started following the rate. Now, some shops in the capital, including in Rampura, Adabar and Khilgaon are selling meat at reduced prices.

However, many shops were still selling beef in the old method [fixed proportion of bones and flesh] for Tk750 a kg.

Robiul Islam, general secretary of the Bangladesh Meat Traders Association, told TBS, "Customers are deceived by purchasing beef for both Tk750 and Tk600 rates. The meat selling for Tk600 has an additional amount of junk and fat."

"Beef could be sold at less than Tk500 a kg through adequate reformations in the sector," he said, emphasising the need for the government's attention to it.

The Meat Traders Association and the city corporation jointly fixed the price of beef at Tk320 in 2018. But the next year, the government stopped fixing the prices ignoring the recommendations of the association. Later, the price of beef rose to Tk600 in 2020, Tk700 in 2021, 2022 and Tk800 in 2023.

Robiul further said that if the Department of Livestock Services becomes self-sufficient, the price of beef could be reduced to Tk500 a kg.

He added that the price jumped to Tk800 due to a lack of market monitoring.

Also, traders said that many people have now cut back on buying meat due to the high prices of essentials. However, the rate of Tk600 per kg of beef is now attracting customers.

Md Imran Hossain, the president of the Bangladesh Dairy Farmers Association, said that traders are making a temporary profit by selling beef with additional junk items, but they will lose customers in the long term.

"On behalf of the association, we have informed the traders that they should sell beef to the buyers fairly. This will increase beef sales and benefit farmers," he added.

Prices of sugar, lentil, and flour keep rising

The price of sugar increased by Tk5 over the last few weeks. On Friday, loose sugar was sold for Tk145-150 a kg and packaged sugar for Tk165-170 at various shops in Karwan Bazar, Rampura and Malibagh.

At the beginning of this month, the price of lentils increased by Tk5 per kg. The price has increased again after remaining down for a few days. At present, coarse lentils are sold for Tk110-120 per kg and the small variety for Tk140-145.

The prices of atta and flour have also increased by Tk5 in the space of a week with a kg loose atta now selling for Tk48-50 and per kg loose flour for Tk65-75.

In addition, the prices of almost all daily essentials, including rice and spice have remained high, while the prices of vegetables, eggs and chicken have come down.

On Friday, chicken sold for Tk165-70 a kg and eggs for Tk125-135 a dozen in the capital.