The prices of onion and broiler went up in the capital’s kitchen markets over the week due to supply shortage and high transportation cost, traders said.
They said that the price of local onion increased in the market as the supply of the item imported decreased in the last couple of days due to the ongoing blockade being enforced by the BNP-led alliance.
According to the traders, high truck fare is one of the reasons for the increase in the prices of onion and broiler as truckers are charging fare almost double due to the blockade and frequent hartals.
The price of local onion increased by Tk 8-Tk 10 a kilogram and the item was selling at Tk 48-Tk 55 a kg on Friday while the imported onion was being sold at Tk 38-Tk 40 a kg.
Habibur Rahman, a trader at the Rampura kitchen market, told New Age that the supply of imported onion decreased in the marker as importers were showing unwillingness to import the item in large quantity due to political uncertainty.
‘At the same time traders have to pay the truck fare more than double that has put an impact on the onion price,’ he said.
The price of broiler increased by Tk 10 a kg in the city markets and the item was selling at Tk 135-Tk 140 a kg on Friday.
Abul Bashar, owner of Sohagh Poultry at the Hatirpool kitchen market, said that the supply shortage of broiler took place in the market as farmers reduced their production in face of huge loss due to the blockade and hartals.
The prices of beef and mutton remained high.
Beef was selling at Tk 340-Tk 350 a kg while mutton was selling at Tk 500-Tk 530 a kg on Friday.
The prices of vegetables decreased a bit.
Cauliflower and cabbage were retailing at Tk 20 a piece and Tk 15 a piece respectively, aubergine was selling at Tk 30 a kg, tomato at Tk 20-Tk 30 a kg, cucumber at Tk 30 a kg, okra at Tk 70 a kg and bitter gourd at Tk 50 a kg on Friday.
Potato was selling at Tk 10-Tk 15 a kg on the day while green chilli was selling at Tk 50 a kg.
The fine variety of red lentil was selling at Tk 115 a kg while its local variety was selling at Tk 110 a kg.
The price of red lentil imported from Turkey and Canada was selling at Tk 90 a kg over the week.
The price of egg remained unchanged and it was selling at Tk 30 a hali (four pieces) over the week.
Fish prices remained unchanged.
Rohita was selling at Tk 200-Tk 300 a kg, katla at Tk 200-Tk 280 a kg, pangas at Tk 120-Tk 170 a kg and tilapia at Tk 110-Tk 180 a kg, depending on their size and quality.
Sugar was selling at Tk 46-Tk 48 a kg on Friday.
The price of imported garlic was selling at Tk 80-Tk 90 a kg while the newly-harvested local garlic was retailing at Tk 60 a kg on the day.
The price of bottled soya bean oil remained unchanged.
A one-litre container of soya bean oil was selling at Tk 100-Tk 105 while a five-litre container was selling at Tk 500 in the city’s Karwan Bazar kitchen market.
Unpacked soya bean oil was retailing at Tk 95-Tk 100 a litre while refined plum oil was selling at Tk 74-Tk 76 a litre on Friday.
The prices of rice remained high over the week.
The fine variety of BR-28 rice was selling at Tk 46-Tk 48 a kg and the coarse variety was selling at Tk 42-Tk 44 a kg on Friday.
The fine variety of miniket rice was selling at Tk 50-Tk 53 a kg while the coarse variety was retailing at Tk 47-Tk 48 a kg.
The fine variety of najirshail was selling at Tk 55-Tk 58 a kg and the coarse variety was retailing at Tk 46-Tk 52 a kg on the day.
The coarse variety of rice was retailing at Tk 32-Tk 37 a kg over the week.
Source: New Age
