For quite some time now it is being heard that as the energy sector has become import-dependent, there is little chance of the power crisis being resolved any time soon. As a result, the country of '100 per cent electric supply' has reverted to hand-fans, candles, lanterns and oil lamps.
And now with the country becoming dependent on imports for green chillies, it is a matter of speculation as to what changes will come about in our daily menu. But even when reports of import hit the news, prices didn't fall in the market and so perhaps green chillies will disappear from many menus. Free green chillies will no longer so generously be served at restaurants and roadside diners. It's a bit too late to come up with a formula for Eid where dried chillies could be soaked in water and made fresh. But given predictions of the next season for green chillies, perhaps such formulas can be kept in mind.
For long we have been hearing about our food autarky, but even so, the market availability of rice, wheat, lentils and almost all food items are dependent on imports. And it is not even as if imports have a positive impact on prices. This was seen in the case of onions recently. Onion prices fell only marginally after the imported onions hit the market. The same trends are noted in the case of sugar and edible oil.
When the price of beef spiralled some time back, there was a silent dissatisfaction all around. Advice was given to use a healthy substitute, green jackfruit. But people hardly were eager to relinquish the tantalizing taste of beef for the healthier alternative
The latest items being added to the list are green chillies and tomatoes. There hadn't been any talk of green chillies and tomato shortage earlier and there was never any need to import these items in hundreds of tonnes.
Now the news media reports that, in response to interest shown by businessmen, permission has been given from Monday to import green chillies and tomatoes. According to bdnews24, on the first day, import of 11,600 tonnes of green chillies and 55,600 tonnes of tomatoes was facilitated. Every year in the rainy season, the price of green chillies does go up a bit, but this time even in the normal weather the price shot up in some places to even Tk 400, that is four times higher than normal.
When the price of beef spiralled some time back, there was a silent dissatisfaction all around. Advice was given to use a healthy substitute, green jackfruit. But people hardly were eager to relinquish the tantalizing taste of beef for the healthier alternative. Similarly, no one was motivated earlier by advice to cook without oil and onions. The formula that evolved was to sell meat in just 250 gram portions, setting a new record in the country. The next news was that buffalo meat was being imported to meet the demand for meat. Yet there had been headlines in Prothom Alo back in 2019, 'Bangladesh self-sufficient in cows and goats'.
Why do essentials, food items in particular, repeatedly face such a predicament? Where is the gap between demand and supply in government statistics on the country's food production? Or is this gap artificially created as a result of market manipulation? The commerce ministry's website indicates that they have a cell to review and predict commodity prices. The cell was formed on 24 November 2014.
According to the ministry, "This cell reviews the production, demand, import, stock, procurement and supply of essential commodities and makes a comparative analysis of domestic and international market rates. As part of this task, the cell collects and analyses information from various organisations on commodity production, stock, procurement and supply, the local and international market prices of the commodities, the volume of commodities being unloaded at the ports, LCs being opened and settled, to advise the government about keeping the market prices stable."
There is no report about this cell being dissolved. But why keep a cell that is incapable of carrying out its responsibility? There was even debate in the parliament on Monday about the unrestrained skyrocketing of prices. There is no opposition in parliament other than the government-backed and approved opposition. And even in that parliament it was said that the commerce minister is in cahoots with the market syndicate. Commerce minister Tipu Munshi's reply more or less admitted that the government was held hostage by a large syndicate of businessmen. He said, "There is talk of syndicates. It is true that the big groups do a large volume of business together. It is possible to take action against such market syndicates with prison sentences and fines, if one wants. But we have to realise that we can jail them, fine them, but this will create a crisis that will be hard to bear. That is why we try to bring things under control through talks." (Jugantar)
The newspapers often carry reports on who are the frontrunner importers who have an almost monopoly of imports and marketing and how they carry out the process. The people have no doubts about their clout. After all, the direct and indirect blessing of the government is the secret of their success. Their rise is not through any rules-based competition. That is why before the government can determine a reasonable price for sugar or edible oil, they raise these prices at will and the government gives in, with the excuse of avoiding a crisis. And they easily pocket the hard-earned money of the common consumers.
At the outset I spoke about the energy sector becoming dependent on imports. Over the past two years, the news media has given detailed reports on just how far the energy sector has become import-dependent. As it is, we are fully dependent on foreign sources for our fuel oil. But in face of the increased demand for liquefied gas, coal and furnace oil in all the projects taken up for power generation, imports have been held up by the dollar crisis and not even half of the power production capacity can be used.
In the seventies and the eighties we would hear that Bangladesh will be self-reliant and the government was working to that end. The slogan was the product of the military regimes and subsequently discarded by others and a new slogan of making an export-oriented economy came in. Exports would be the major driving force of the economy. Exports have increased, but imports have increased even more. According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (foreign trade statistics 2021-22), imports have almost doubled in the last five years.
In these days of globalisation, arguments have been promoted over the past few decades not to view imports negatively. The main argument is that the consumers will get commodities at the lowest prices due to global competition. But the global circumstances have suddenly changed because of two reasons -- the Covid pandemic put a big dent in the supply chain and the new polarisation in geopolitics.
In March last year President Biden declared that the future of the US industry was the future of its economy, the solution of the climate change crisis would be found in products made in the US. China's president Xi Jinping speaks of becoming self-reliant. India's prime minister Narendra Modi has taken up the 'Made in India' slogan. At a point in time when everyone is trying to curtail imports, why is the export-oriented Bangladesh becoming so import-dependent that it is having to import 11,000 tonnes of green chillies?
* Kamal Ahmed is a senior journalist
* This column appeared in the online edition of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten for the English edition by Ayesha Kabir