Bangladesh COVID-19 Market Monitoring Initiative (MMI) factsheet | Round 5: 1-2 July 2020
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- Bangladesh
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- Sources
- REACH
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INTRODUCTION
In order to provide an evidence base on evolving market dynamics in Rohingya refugee camps in response to the COVID-19 outbreak in Bangladesh, REACH launched the COVID-19 Market Monitoring Initiative (MMI) in April 2020.
This factsheet presents an overview of trends in prices for key food and non-food items (NFIs), as well as indicators on the impact of COVID-19 in the assessed markets. A reduced set of commodities were selected for initial monitoring rounds but are subject to change as the situation evolves. Data collection is currently conducted on a monthly basis remotely through phone interviews with market vendors. A more detailed methodology can be found on the last page.
Previous bi-weekly factsheets of the COVID-19 MMI can be found at this link.
Key findings
• Prices of tracked commodities have remained consistent with the previous round. Stocks of all commodities remained available, and all 16 key informants (KIs) reported that all items could be restocked within three days.
• Only one KI reported facing restocking issues, including a shortage of carriers to transport supplies in the immediate camp area, commercial agents and wholesalers no longer visiting the camps, and suppliers no longer giving access to credit.
• For all monitored items, KIs continued to report predominantly sourcing them from outside of the camps, with a slight increase again in vendors sourcing items from inside the camps as compared to two weeks prior. • All KIs reported continuing to take safety measures in response to COVID-19. Use of facemasks remained the most common measure taken, but as compared to two weeks prior also other measures were more frequently reported.
• Most KIs reported that the number of vendors in their market had stayed the same relative to two weeks prior, but the number of customers and income had continued to decrease over this period. The most common barrier to community access to markets as reported by the KIs continued to be avoidance of markets due to fear of COVID-19, followed by low purchasing power.