The prices of aubergine and green chilli shot up in the city’s kitchen markets on Friday ahead of the fasting month of Ramadan. The prices of other vegetables, onions and potatoes also went up over the week in the retail markets. The prices of aubergine and green chilli almost doubled a day after imposing government ban on export of the items to keep the prices stable.The government on Wednesday imposed a ban on exports of green chilli, aubergine, cucumber, lemon and coriander leaves to check price hikes of those in the local market during the month of Ramadan that will start this week.
Traders said that the prices of aubergine and green chilli increased as heavy rainfall interrupted supply and damaged many farms across the country.
On the other hand, the prices of onions and potatoes increased due to supply shortage as the stock is going to end while the price of imported onion increased as India raised the export prices of the item, they said.
The prices of aubergine and green chilli increased by Tk 20 a kg and the items was selling at Tk 80-Tk 100 a kg and Tk 100 a kg respectively.
Shahidul Islam, a trader at Shantinagar kitchen market, told New Age that the continuous rainfall in the last couple of days damaged vegetables fields in the different parts of the country and so the prices of the items increased.
The prices of green chilli usually increased in the rainy season, he said.
The consumers, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the sudden price hike of vegetables days before Ramadan and accused the lack of effective government monitoring system.
‘It is absurd that the prices of some items almost doubled overnight. It is nothing but an attempt of some dishonest traders for making excessive profits and a complete failure of the government,’ Iqbal Anwar, a schoolteacher, told New Age on Friday.
In absence of government monitoring, every year in Ramadan, a quarter of traders manipulate the market citing some lame excuses which hits the fixed income group of people hard, he alleged.
The prices of onions and potatoes increased by Tk 5-Tk 7 a kg and the items were selling at Tk 40 a kg and Tk 25 a kg respectively over the week.
The prices of most of the vegetables increased by Tk 10 a kg on Friday.
Cucumber was retailing at Tk 50 a kg, tomatoes at Tk 50 a kg, carrot at Tk 60 a kg, papaya at Tk 40 a kg, okra at Tk 40 a kg and bitter gourd at Tk 50 a kg in the city’s kitchen markets.
The prices of beef and broiler remained unchanged and beef was selling at Tk 280-Tk 290 a kg and broiler at Tk 150-Tk 160 a kg in the city.
Mutton price remained unchanged and it was selling at Tk 450 a kg.
The prices of fish remained unchanged.
Rohita was selling at Tk 250-Tk 300 a kg, katla at Tk 220-Tk 300 a kg, pangas at Tk 140-Tk 200 a kg and tilapia at Tk 140-Tk 160 a kg, depending on their size and quality.
Both unpacked soya bean and super palm oil prices remained unchanged and the commodities were retailing at Tk 112 a kg and Tk 90 a kg respectively.
The price of bottled soya bean oil (five litres) remained unchanged and it was selling at Tk 540 to Tk 565 in the city’s kitchen markets.
The prices of garlic and ginger remained unchanged and were retailing at Tk 80 a kg and Tk 220 a kg respectively.
Red lentil imported from Turkey and Canada was selling at Tk 85-Tk 90 a kg over the week.
The price of fine variety of red lentil was selling at Tk 130 a kg on Friday while the local variety of red lentil was selling at Tk 115 a kg.
Egg price remained unchanged and the item was selling at Tk 28-Tk 30 a hali (four pieces) in the city.
The price of gram remained unchanged and it was selling at Tk 60-Tk 65 a kg on different markets in the capital.
Puffed rice price was selling at Tk 60-Tk 65 a kg while the hand-made item was retailing at Tk 120 a kg.
The prices of gur and flaked rice also remained unchanged. Gur was selling at between Tk 100 and Tk 200 a kg, and flaked rice at between Tk 60 and Tk 70 a kg.
The dates were retailing at the ranges between Tk 130 and Tk 550 a kg.
The price of sugar remained high and the item was selling at Tk 48-Tk 52 a kg on Friday.
The fine varieties of miniket were selling at Tk 48-Tk 50 a kg while the coarse varieties were retailing at Tk 44-Tk 46 a kg.
The fine varieties of BR-28 were selling at Tk 42-Tk 44 a kg and the coarse varieties of parija were selling at Tk 38-Tk 40 a kg.
-With New Age input
