Commerce, industries, textiles and jute minister Khandaker Abdul Muktadir said on Sunday that the commerce ministry would form a fact-finding committee to investigate the reasons behind the gap between wholesale and retail prices of commodities.

He made the announcement while speaking at a views-exchange meeting titled ‘Middle East conflict: review of consumer goods supply and price situation’ at Khatunganj Trade and Industries Association’s conference room after visiting the Khatunganj wholesale market in Chattogram to inspect the commodity price situation.

Muktadir said that in many cases there was an unacceptable gap between wholesale and retail prices. To identify the actual reasons behind the gap, he said, a fact-finding committee would be formed with representatives of traders, members of the administration and, if necessary, people from other professions.

He said that the committee would review the matter in detail and make necessary recommendations.

The minister said that Bangladesh was still an import-dependent country and it was natural for the domestic market to be affected by increases in international prices, a higher dollar value and higher transport costs.

However, he said that the government remained alert so that commodity prices did not rise unreasonably because of internal management failure or weaknesses in market control.

Referring to imported fruits, Muktadir said that some fruits such as apples, grapes and oranges should remain within the reach of ordinary people. The government will consider policy support if needed to keep the prices of those fruits within people’s purchasing capacity, he said.

However, he added that there was no need to reduce duties on excessively expensive luxury fruits.

Muktadir said that in a free-market economy, traders were the main driving force of business and commerce, while the government’s role was to ensure a favourable environment for business and investment and to make sure that the market functioned normally and without disruption.