The government yesterday began open market sale of five key essential commodities to keep their prices stable in the lead-up to Ramadan, Trading Corporation of Bangladesh said in a statement.

The commodities are: sugar, soybean oil (cooking oil), lentil, grams and dates.

TCB will sell the essential items at subsidised prices using 187 roaming trucks: 35 in Dhaka, 10 in Chittagong, five each in divisional cities and two each in district towns.

Prices have been fixed at Tk 55 a kilogram for sugar, Tk 80 for lentil, Tk 85 for per litre soybean oil, Tk 70 for gram and Tk 120 for dates.

Each consumer can buy a maximum of four kg of sugar, 3 kg lentils, 5 litre soybean oil, 5 kg grams and 1 kg dates.

TCB has also fixed the allocations of commodities for a dealer. There are over 2,811 dealers listed with the state-owned organisation.

OMS service will not be available on Fridays, said TCB.