Some companies have raised further their bottled-water prices even though legal cases against them remain pending with Bangladesh Competition Commission (BCC) in this regard.

Recently, the prices of "Mum" brand of bottled mineral water of Partex Beverages' and that of "Fresh" brand of Meghna Group have gone up in the market.

Earlier, a case was filed with the BCC against seven local and foreign companies for allegedly increasing the prices of half-liter bottled water 'unfairly', by making excessive profits. "Mum" and "Fresh" are among such seven companies.

Partex has raised the price of its 2-liter "Mum" brand of bottled water by Tk 5.0 to Tk 45 and its 5-liter one to Tk 100 from Tk 90 previously.

The price of Meghna's "Super Fresh" brand of 2-liter bottled water has been increased to Tk 45 from the previous rate of from Tk 40.

In 2023, the price of half-liter water bottles was increased from Tk 15 to Tk 20 by the companies on the plea of their costs of production due to devaluation of local currency against US dollar.

The Competition Commission investigated the complaints and found that the companies raised their prices much higher than that of their costs of production. Following the findings, the Commission filed a suo motu case against seven companies.

They are: Coca-Cola Bangladesh Beverages Ltd, Transcom Beverages Ltd, Meghna Beverages Ltd, Partex Beverages Ltd, Ruposhi Foods Ltd (a concern of City Group), Akij Food and Beverage Ltd, and Pran Beverages Ltd.

The BCC investigations revealed that the companies had a nexus to keep prices high.

After the case was filed, Meghna, Pran, Akij, and Partex revised their half-liter bottled water prices down to the previous level of Tk 15.

Since the scheduled hearing on the case remained paused following the country's political turmoil, the companies raised the prices of the same again to Tk 20, said SM Nazer Hossain, Vice President of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB).

He said such delay in settlement of the legal process had prompted the companies to market their items at Tk 20 and also encouraged them to raise prices of other categories of water too.

The Commission's report titled "Investigation Report on the Abnormal Price Increase of Bottled Water" showed that major producers raised the prices between January and September 2023.

The companies attributed such hikes to higher import cost of ingredients due to higher dollar.

During the investigation, the Commission analysed the production costs of eight companies, including Dhaka WASA.

It found that Akij Food and Beverage made the highest profit by raising the price of a half-liter bottle by Tk 5.0.

Even though Akij's production cost rose by just 18.33 percent and total marketing costs by 31.78 percent (with VAT and tax) their profits jumped by 420 percent.

Coca-Cola's Kinley had made 211 percent profit, followed by Transcom Beverage with 71 percent, and Meghna 177 percent, according to the BCC report.

Since the City Group and Pran did not provide enough, their profit could not be calculated.

Partex was the lone company that increased commissions for distributors and retailers without raising its own profit.

The Commission concluded that such companies breached the country's competition laws.

Partex official Nahid Yousuf said that the company's price hikes were due to rise in the operational costs, higher raw material prices, and a volatile dollar market.

Although the Commission filed the case in September 2023 and the hearing on it was scheduled to be held on September 18 last, it was later canceled.

A new hearing date was set for July 2, but that was also put on hold, according to a source at BCC.

BCC Member Dr Md Akhtaruzzaman Talukder said that the Commission was newly formed after the July uprising.

He further said the commission's investigation is now at its final stages, the final hearing will happen soon.

According to the BCC survey in 2023, over 400 million liters of bottled water were sold in the country.

Fresh held the highest market share of bottled water in Bangladesh with 24.17 percent, followed by Pran with 17.76 percent and Aquafina 16.88 percent.

Partex's Mum brand ranked fourth position with having 16.44 percent market share and Spa with 13.81 percent.

Kinley and Jibon held 4.16 percent and 4.00 percent market shares respectively.

Other brands such as Mukta, Sena, Muskan, and Shanti each had less than 1.00 percent share of the bottled water market.

According to BSTI, 232 companies got registered to produce and market bottled water. However, the some 11 brands dominate the market.