TCB’s Subsidy Push Reaches 1 Crore Families

The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has played a crucial role in stabilizing essential commodity prices and ensuring food security by distributing key staples at subsidized rates across the country. Between January 2022 and December 2024, TCB supplied an estimated 480,000 metric tonnes (MT) of lentils, 240,000 MT of sugar, and 480 million litres of edible oil to low-income households.

Speaking to The Daily Campus on Wednesday (May 14), Humayun Kabir, TCB’s Information Officer and Joint Director, detailed the scope of the operations. “Every month, TCB provided 1 crore (10 million) families with 2 litres of edible oil, 2 kilograms of lentils, and 1 kilogram of sugar. From July 2023 onward, we also began supplying an additional 5 kg of rice per family in coordination with the Directorate General of Food,” he said.

In addition to these regular distributions, TCB has operated mobile truck sales (truck-sell operations) to sell products such as onions and other essentials at fair prices during market volatility.

Monthly Demand and Nationwide Reach

TCB’s monthly distribution under the program required approximately:

• 20,000 MT of lentils
• 10,000 MT of sugar
• 20 million litres of edible oil
  
  

Although sugar distribution faced interruptions for 4–5 months in 2023, limited operations continued in select districts. Despite challenges, this large-scale effort has been pivotal in providing emergency reserves of daily essentials to vulnerable segments of the population.

Currently, TCB is operating with a network of registered dealers to distribute goods to subsidy cardholders through organized systems. The number of family cardholders, once around 10 million, has decreased by about 40% and now stands at approximately 4.7 million. Authorities are actively working to expand the program again following a verification process.

Warehousing and Supply Chain

TCB’s warehousing and logistics infrastructure has also been expanded to support the supply chain. As of now, it maintains:

• 3 warehouses in Dhaka
• 1 in Chattogram
• 2 each in Khulna, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Barishal, Moulvibazar, and Mymensingh
  
  

These warehouses store essential commodities such as rice, lentils, oil, sugar, chickpeas, and dates, and ensure timely and safe distribution through their dealer network.

Officials noted that this systematic storage and delivery network has made TCB’s operations more organized, enabling the corporation to mitigate market instability and enhance food security for the country’s low- and middle-income populations.