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Download PDF Prices of essentials rose further in the capital over the last two weeks, and retailers and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) blamed the hike on low supply due to the recent downpour.
Edible oil, rice, flour, onion, aubergine, green papaya, cucumber, green banana, green and dried chilli, different types of leafy vegetables and spices– all saw a rise in their prices at the kitchen markets as well as the BDR-run shops and markets.
Col Abdul Halim, chief of the BDR Trade and Commerce Monitoring Cell, told The Daily Star, “The vegetable fields in different places across the country have gone under water due to heavy rain and the supply became limited. So, the prices have gone up for the time being.”
The price of soyabean oil has risen to Tk 80 per litre from Tk 76 last week. Retailers at the Karwan Bazar kitchen market said the price may rise further this week.
The BDR-run shops were selling soyabean oil at Tk 78 per litre; two weeks back they sold it at Tk 72.
Raihan, a retailer at Hatirpul kitchen market, said oil companies took demand notes from the retailers several times last week but the supplies have yet to arrive. “Meantime, our stock is running low,” he said.
A dealer of Teer soyabean oil said, “I placed order to the company several times, but no supply yet.”
The price of flour rose sharply during the last two weeks. The price of 1kg pack, which was Tk 25 last week, has leapt to Tk 30.
Onion was sold at Tk 22 per kilogram last week and is now being sold at Tk 28.
Only the price of potato has remained stable, said the retailers of Karwan Bazar and Hatirpul kitchen markets.
The price of green chilli has doubled during the last two weeks, reaching Tk 80 per kilogram at different retail markets. The BDR-run shops were selling green chilli at Tk 75 although they sold it at Tk 30 two weeks back.Spices like cardamom, cumin and dried chilli sold at Tk 600, Tk 205 and Tk 110 per kilogram last week, but the prices of those have shot up by Tk 100-110.
The price of fine rice rose from Tk 45 to Tk 55, IRRI (coarse) from Tk 21 to Tk 22, Najir Shail from Tk 28 to Tk 30 and Miniket rose from last week’s Tk 32 to Tk 34.
The price of Paijam rice remained stable during the last two weeks.
Lentils, which were selling at Tk 60 per kilogram last week, are now being sold at Tk 70.
Aubergine is now being sold between Tk 28 and Tk 32; it sold at Tk 20-24 last week. The price rose by Tk 3 at the BDR-run markets.
The prices of green papaya, ginger, cucumber, green banana, pui shak and lal shak rose by Tk 4-6 during the last week.
Tipu, caretaker of a house, said, “My monthly income is very low. If the prices go up every now and then, how will I maintain my family?”
Government employee Ratri Chowdhury, who was shopping at the Kathalbagan kitchen market, said, “We can perhaps somehow cope with the continuous rise of the prices, but the poorer section in the society will be the worst sufferer.”
Col Abdul Halim said, “We do not force vendors to sell their vegetables at prices lower than their buying prices…The simple law of supply and demand is always active in the market, be it BDR-run market or not.
“What we do is to ensure that no party makes excessive profit by capitalising on others’ necessity,” said Halim.
Since March the government has set up 20 BDR-run shops and 25 markets at different places in the capital to control the prices of essentials.
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