A photo taken on Monday shows different brands of powdered milk in a grocery shop in Dhaka. Powdered milk price continued to increase in the city markets in last one month with prices of some leading brands for baby milk marking a fresh increase last week. — New Age photo

Powdered milk price continued to increase in the city markets in last one month with prices of some leading brands of milk powder for babies, marking a fresh increase last week.
The price hike of powdered milk has pushed the consumers with limited income in trouble as they have already been grappling with the soaring prices of other essential commodities like fish, chicken and egg. 
Retailers in different city markets said that the price of Lactogen powdered milk increased by Tk 50 for a 400-gram packet, Delac by Tk 40, Biomil by Tk 20 and Nido by Tk 20 last week.
The price of Dano rose by Tk 200 for a 2-kilogram container fifteen days ago, while the price of Nan increased by Tk 130 a 400-gram one month ago.
Baby Care increased by Tk 20 and Mother’s Smile by Tk 40 two month ago, said retailers.
After the rise, the Lactogen was retailing at Tk 550 a 400gm packet. The Delac was retailing at Tk 490 and Biomil at Tk 360 and Nido at Tk 300, said Abdur Rashid, a retailer at Plassey in the city on Monday.
The Nan was retailing at Tk 800, while the Baby Care and Mother’s Smile were retailing at Tk 455 and Tk 465 respectively and the Dano was selling at Tk 1,850, said retailers and consumers. 
Retailers said wholesalers were responsible for the price hike of baby milk.
Wholesalers, however, said it were importers who were to be blamed for the increase.
‘We have nothing to do with it as we have to sell baby milk at the prices fixed by importers,’ said M Khokan, a wholesaler at Moulovibazar wholesale market in the capital.
He said that the importers had increased the prices of powdered milk claiming a rise in milk price on the international market.
Bithi Khan, a house wife at Moghbazar, said that consumers had become hostages to the whims of some profit-monger businessmen. ‘We have to buy milk for our baby at the prices fixed by them at their will.’
She said it seemed that the government had no control over them.