The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has taken steps for the second time within six months to restore normalcy of sugar and lentil prices by selling the two items under the Open Market Sales (OMS) from today (Monday). Earlier, the TCB sold sugar, gram, onion and lentil under the OMS system during the month of Ramadan in October last year. The TCB sources said they would sell the items at 30 spots in Dhaka city with some mobile trucks. The TCB officials said the OMS price of sugar has been fixed at Tk 42 per kg while the lentil has been fixed at Tk 40 per kg. A customer can buy two kgs of sugar and 10 kgs of lentil, they said, adding that in case of lentil, one can purchase a pack of five kg also. Meanwhile, in the retail markets sugar was selling between Tk 52 and Tk 54 per kg, and lentil between Tk 48 and Tk 52 per kg at the city markets Sunday. They would sell the two items in other divisional cities including Rajshahi, Chittagong and Khluna also at the same prices, sources said. The newly appointed TCB Chairman Shahidul Haque said sales of the two items in Barisal and Sylhet is not taking place as there is no office of the corporation in the two divisions. "The stock of the items is irrelative for us. We will continue the sales for a period of full one month. The programme may be extended on the success of one month's sale," Shahidul Haque said. He said the lentil (Masur Dal) has been imported from India while the Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) supplied the sugar at mill gate prices to the TCB. The officials and salespersons would operate the sales programmes, the chairman said while talking to the FE. TCB sources said, it imported 120 tonnes of onion, 100 tonnes of gram, 3000 tonnes of lentil and procured 700 tonnes of sugar from the local mills to sell these among the consumers during the last Ramadan aiming to restore the price of essential commodities. The TCB men sold sugar at Tk 34 per kg and lentil at Tk 42 per kg under OMS in October last.
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