The prices of potatoes, onions and garlic increased further on the kitchen markets in the capital Dhaka ahead of Eid-ul-Azha, one of the largest religious festivals for the Muslims, likely to be celebrated in the third week of June.
Despite the government鈥檚 efforts to control the prices of onions and potatoes, traders continued to raise the prices, causing consumers to feel the pinch of these excessively pricey commodities over the months.
The prices of onions increased by Tk 5 a kilogram in past one week while the prices of the commodity increased by Tk 15-20 a kilogram in past one month.
At the same time the price of potatoes increased by Tk 5 a kilogram in past one week and by Tk 10-15 a kilogram in one month.
According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh data, the prices of garlic, eggs and chicken also increased by 16.67 per cent, 28.05 per cent and 10.53 per cent respectively in past one month.
Traders reported that the prices of potatoes, garlic and onions continued to rise due to supply shortages, as consumers started buying in increased quantities on the eve of Eid-ul-Azha.聽
The local variety of onions sold for Tk 80-85 a kilogram on the city markets on Friday which was Tk 70-80 a kilogram in past week.
The imported onions sold for Tk 80-90 a kilogram on the day.
Potatoes sold for Tk 60-65 a kilogram in the city on Friday while the price was Tk 55-60 a kilogram in past week.
This year, the prices of potatoes and onions witnessed a significant high starting from the full harvesting season.
Amid the unusual price hike of essential commodities, the government announced rational prices for 29 agricultural products in March, including that of potatoes, onions, broiler chickens and eggs. However, the directive was scarcely implemented.
Calculating the production costs, transport cost, profit of growers and traders in different levels, the Department of Agricultural Marketing had set
the retail prices of local onions at Tk 65.40 a kilogram, garlic at Tk 120.81 a kilogram, potatoes at Tk 28.55 a kilogram and egg at Tk 10.50 apiece.聽
The price of garlic remained excessively high on the kitchen markets in Dhaka and the imported item sold for Tk 220鈥�250 a kilogram while its local variety retailed at Tk 200鈥�220 a kilogram on Friday.
Eggs sold for Tk 55 a hali (four pieces) on the city markets over the week.