Letter to the Editor About the Price Hike of Essentials

Open by asking for space in the columns, then describe the effect of rising prices on ordinary families rather than reciting figures — these letters are read for their argument, not their statistics. Name the groups worst affected, suggest what could be done, and close with the usual formal subscription.

The question: Write a letter to the editor about the price hike of essential commodities.

The format

The formal frame

Editor, newspaper and address at the left; date; subject line; Sir; the request for space; body; Yours faithfully with your name and address. This frame is identical in every letter to the editor and is worth learning once.

Lead with people, not percentages

A price-hike letter is read for its argument, not its statistics. Open the body by describing what the rise means for a household on a fixed income, then give one or two illustrative prices. A letter built on a table of figures loses the reader in the first paragraph.

• Choose two or three everyday items rather than listing a market basket.
• Give approximate figures you can defend, or describe the change in proportion — nearly double since last year.
• Name the groups worst affected: day labourers, fixed-income families, students living in messes.

Causes — briefly and carefully

One short paragraph is enough, and it should stay with causes you can reasonably assert: supply disruption, transport costs, hoarding, weak market monitoring. Do not attempt macroeconomics in a letter.

The request

Ask for something specific and existing: market monitoring, action against hoarding, expansion of open-market sales, enforcement by the consumer rights directorate. End there.

Model answer

Model answer (about 195 words)

The Editor

New Age

Tejgaon, Dhaka

5 September 2026

Subject: The rising price of daily essentials

Sir,

I shall be grateful if you allow me some space in your columns to write about the price of essential goods, which has become the main subject of conversation in every market I visit.

For a family living on a fixed monthly income the arithmetic no longer works. Rice, lentils, edible oil and eggs have all risen sharply over the past year, and vegetables that were seasonal luxuries have become year-round ones. A day labourer earning six hundred taka now spends most of it before anything is set aside for rent, school or medicine. In the mess where I live, four of us have cut down to two cooked meals a day, and we are among the fortunate.

Some of the rise has causes no one controls. But traders here say openly that stocks are held back when a price is expected to move, and that monitoring in the wholesale markets is occasional at best.

I request the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection to make market monitoring regular rather than seasonal, and to act against hoarding where it is found.

Yours faithfully,

Abdullah Al Mamun

Mymensingh

What earns and loses marks

• Write about households, not the economy. “Four of us have cut down to two cooked meals a day” is the sentence an editor prints; a paragraph on inflation is not.
• Use proportions where you are unsure of figures — “nearly double since last year” is safer than an invented taka amount and reads just as well.
• Keep the causes paragraph short and modest. A letter that explains global commodity markets in three sentences invites disagreement it cannot answer.
• Name a real body in the request; the consumer rights directorate and the city corporation markets are the usual ones.
• Stay formal throughout — no rhetorical questions, no exclamation marks.

Mistakes to avoid

• ✗ Prices are increasing day by day. Poor people are suffering a lot. Government should take steps. ✓ A day labourer earning six hundred taka now spends most of it before anything is set aside for rent, school or medicine. — the three-sentence version is what most scripts write