Rumours about the price hike of salt have led people to rush to buy the essential commodity with the government claiming that a vested quarter was behind it to make windfall profits.
A retailer at Shukrabad area, Ibrahim said his stock of salt was sold out in a couple of hours in the morning.
"By Tuesday noon, 100 kg salt was sold against the usual 15 kg a day,” he added.
Amid rumours of a shortage of salt leading to possible price hike, the government has said the salt reserve is way more than the demand.
Another retailer Nurul Islam echoed.
He said, “I sold a kg of ACI-brand salt at Tk 35. The usual sale was never more than 10 kg whereas I have already sold 150 kg.
“Each customer was buying 4-5 kg salt," he said before claiming that he didn't sell no more than a kilogram salt to a customer.
According to this trader, if the buying spree continues prices will shoot up.
Amid rumours of a shortage of salt leading to possible price hike, the government has said the salt reserve is way more than the demand.
Another shopkeeper, Abdul Aleem of the same area said that a retailer bought 25 kg salt from him at the wholesale price in the morning before he noticed anything.
Only 10 kg salt was left at his shop that was sold quickly. “Now I can't meet customers’ demand,” he added.
Traders claimed they had no knowledge about the sudden rise in demand of salt while customers said they heard rumours that salt price in the rise like the onion which is why they bought more salt at once.
Recently, prices of onions hit all-time high crossing Tk 250 a kg in the capital kitchen markets since India banned the export of onion on Sept 29.
Amid rumours of a shortage of salt leading to possible price hike, the government has said the salt reserve is way more than the demand.
Officials, however, said no shortage of salt in the country.
"If salt is unviable anywhere make a call [to the control room] we will supply the salt to the respective area," said Abul Khayer, an official at Bangladesh Small & Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) control room.
The BSCIC has written to the deputy commissioners across the country informing about the stock of salt, he added.
Earlier in the day, BSCIC Chairman Md Mostaque Hassan, in a media statement said, "There’s no shortage of salt. At present, the salt stock in the country is much higher than the demand.”
He said an unholy syndicate is trying to reap benefits by spreading misleading information through online media. “The people of the country are requested not to get confused.”
Amid rumours of a shortage of salt leading to possible price hike, the government has said the salt reserve is way more than the demand.
The salt stock in the country was 650,000 tonne on Nov 15 and the country saw record salt production of nearly 1.23 million tonnes in 2018-2019 fiscal, much higher than the target.
The government attained self-sufficiency in salt production due to the hard work of the salt farmers and policy support, said the BSCIC.
A control room has been opened at the BSCIC headquarters (Phone No: 02-9573505) for all salt-related queries.
