The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry on Sunday requested the government to ban export of fishes till the end of Ramadan.
The apex trade body in a press release said that its monitoring cell had observed that prices of all kind of fishes had increased and gone beyond the purchasing capacity of general consumers.
‘We are requesting the government to ban export of fish for the remaining days of the month of Ramadan on an emergency basis to increase the supply and bring down the prices within the purchasing capacity of general consumers,’ said the FBCCI in the release.
Earlier on July 9, the government had imposed ban on export of essential items including green chilli, onion, garlic and aubergine following the request of the FBCCI.
‘The prices of those essential items have either remained stable or shown downtrend after the ban is imposed,’ said the trade body adding that imposition of a ban on export of fishes would also keep the prices of fishes at the tolerable level of the consumers.
Retailers at different city markets said that prices of fishes like rohita, katla, pangas and tilapia went up by Tk 100 a kg, Tk 50 a kg, Tk 20 a kg and Tk 30 to Tk 50 a kg respectively in one week before the start of Ramadan.
Rohita, katla, pangas and tilapia were retailing at Tk 350 to Tk 400 a kg, Tk 250 to Tk 400 a kg, Tk 170 to Tk 470 a kg and Tk 150 to Tk 170 a kg respectively, depending on their sizes and quality, on Friday.
Hilsa was retailing at Tk 1,100 a kg on Friday, while it was sold at Tk 1,000 a kg two weeks before.
-With New Age input
