Cigarette price increased before the budget!

 Cigarette price increased before the budget!

Dhaka: The 18th session (budget session) of the 11th National Assembly will begin on June 5. The budget for 2022-23 fiscal year will be presented in the session on June 9.

It is not clear whether the budget will increase the price of cigarettes or tobacco products. But before that the price of cigarettes has gone up in the market.

Starting from dealers, wholesalers and retailers have started charging higher prices for all cigarettes. Marginal traders are also selling cigarettes to smokers at higher prices.

Buyers and sellers have said that the price of cigarettes has gone up as there is talk of rising prices of tobacco products in the next budget.

On Sunday (May 22), various areas of the capital, around the market, tea-cigarettes in the alleys of the area, grocery stores were visited.

Goldleaf has been increased by Tk 1 to Tk 12 and Marlboro is being sold at Tk 17-18. Cigarettes of almost every brand have increased by one or two rupees per stick.

Retailers say that wholesalers are selling all types of cigarettes in the market at higher prices than the price fixed by the company. In this you have to count extra 10-12 rupees per packet. Benson cigarettes were Rs 260 per packet, now it has to be bought at Rs 280. 203 rupees goldleaf is now 212 rupees packet. A pack of Navy cigarettes ranged from Rs 125 to Rs 126-130, while Hollywood and Derby cigarettes were priced at Rs 8 and are now being sold at Rs 63. A pack of Royal Cigarettes at Tk 74 costs Tk 93 and a pack of Star Cigarettes at Tk 128 costs Tk 134.

Uttara Azampura retail store said. Nazrul told banglanews that if he had sold cigarettes, there would have been some profit, but not now. We are forced to buy cigarettes at higher prices and sell them to retailers at higher prices. It is constantly arguing with the buyers.

A smoker from Uttara Housebuilding said that Marlboro cigarettes used to be sold at Tk 15 per piece in shops, now it is being sold at Tk 16 in some shops and Tk 18 in others. If you want to buy a packet, you have to pay 320 rupees. The price of cigarettes increases every year in the budget, this is nothing new. But before the proposed budget, shopkeepers raised the price of cigarettes. Many retailers are already hoarding cigarettes in anticipation of extra profits. Everyone is forced to buy cigarettes at higher prices.

Wholesalers say companies are not supplying cigarettes to dealers. They will supply cigarettes to the market at new prices after the budget. So the dealers are not supplying enough cigarettes. As a result, they have to buy cigarettes at higher prices. So we are also being forced to sell at a higher price.

Several wholesale cigarette dealers in the capital complained that every time before the budget, the companies create crisis in the market and increase the price in advance. Companies, including dealers who stockpile cigarettes, are making more profit. The position of wholesalers among them, the profit is very small.

Despite the allegations, the companies have claimed that the supply of cigarettes in the market is regular.

Initially, a budget proposal of Tk. In the new budget, the target of achieving the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) is being set at 7.5 percent. Inflation has been caught at 5.5 percent. Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal will present the budget for the new fiscal year in Parliament on June 9 (Thursday).