The prices of most of the essential commodities including vegetables, beef, broiler, gram, and puffed rice went up in the capital’s retail markets ahead of Ramadan, fasting month for Muslims. Traders said that the prices of vegetables increased due to a supply shortage and the prices of other commodities rose due to increased demand. The prices of aubergine, cucumber, tomato, carrot, papaya, okra, and bitter gourd increased by Tk 10-Tk 20 a kilogram in the last couple of days.
Aubergine was retailing at Tk 50-Tk 60 a kg, cucumber at Tk 50 a kg, tomato at Tk 50 a kg, carrot Tk 60 a kg, papaya at Tk 40 a kg, okra at Tk 40 a kg and bitter gourd at Tk 40 a kg in the city’s kitchen markets.
The prices of ribbed gourd, sponge gourd, teasle gourd, snake gourd and palwal remained high.
Ribbed gourd was selling at Tk 40 a kg, sponge gourd at Tk 35 a kg, teasle gourd Tk 50 a kg, snake gourd at Tk 40 a kg and palwal at Tk 30 a kg.
Green chilli price remained unchanged and the item was retailing at Tk 60-Tk 70 a kg.
Shahidul Islam, a retailer at the Rampura kitchen market, told New Age that the prices of vegetables increased as there was a supply shortage due to rainfall in deferent parts of the country.
The prices of beef and broiler increased by Tk 10-Tk 20 a kg and the beef was selling at Tk 300 a kg and broiler at Tk 160-Tk 165 a kg in the city.
Mutton price remained unchanged and it was selling at Tk 450 a kg.
Shukur Ali, a trader at the Shantinagar kitchen market, said that the prices of beef increased due to excessive demand for the item.
The prices of cows also increased on the market due to the rising demand for beef before upcoming Ramadan, he said.
Abul Bashar, owner of Shohagh Broiler House at the Hatirpool kitchen market, said that the growers increased the price of broiler amid increasing demand.
The price of gram increased by Tk 5-Tk 15 a kg and the item was selling at Tk 60-Tk 65 a kg on different markets in the capital.
Ziaul Islam, a private service holder who came to the Rampura kitchen market for shopping, expressed his dissatisfaction over the price hike of most of the commodities.
‘It’s a common phenomenon in Bangladesh that the government would say commodity prices would not rise ahead of Ramadan and the traders would increase the prices on their own will,’ he said.
Ziaul said that the prices of essential commodities started to increase before two weeks of Ramadan.
He criticised the government policy and said, ‘We, the fixed-income group of people, bear the burnt [because of the price hike] and a section of businesses becomes gainer.’
The prices of puffed rice increased by Tk 5-Tk 10 a kg and 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 high. 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 increased by Tk 5 a kg in the last one week and the commodity was selling at Tk 48-Tk 52 a kg on Saturday.
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.
The price of local onion remained unchanged and it was selling at Tk 35 a kg while the imported one was selling at Tk 30 a kg.
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.
Potato price remained unchanged and the item was retailing at Tk 18-Tk 20 a kg.
The price of egg remained unchanged and the item was selling at Tk 30 a hali (four pieces) in the city.
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
