The prices of almost all essential commodities, notably onions and summer vegetables, have risen on the capital鈥檚 kitchen markets over the week ending Friday.
After visiting some kitchen markets, including Karwan Bazar and Kallyanpur Natun Bazar, it was seen that the prices of onions have gone up by about Tk 10-15 a kilogram in the past 3-4 days.
At Karwan Bazar, onions were sold at Tk 50-55 a kilogram, while on neighbouring markets, they were priced at Tk 60 a kilogram. The prices of onions were Tk 40-45 a few days ago.
The prices of early-summer vegetables also witnessed a rise. At Karwan Bazar, summer vegetables like spiny gourd were sold at Tk 120-140 a kilogram, luffa at Tk 80 a kilogram and pointed gourd at Tk 60 a kilogram.
Moreover, bitter gourd was sold at Tk 60 a kilogram, yardlong bean at Tk 80, lady finger at Tk 60 and aubergine at Tk 90-100.
Traders say that the prices varied on neighbouring markets by Tk 5-15 a kilogram.
Meanwhile, price of potatoes lowered to Tk 25 a kilogram, from Tk 50 just 2-3 days ago.
However, the price of tomatoes remained unchanged, with the item being sold at Tk 40 a kilogram, while papaya sold at Tk 60 and cucumbers at Tk 50-60 a kilogram.
Traders, however, said that vegetable prices remained high in April every year as this month witnessed low vegetable production between winter and summer.
In April, winter vegetables almost completely disappear from the markets while some summer varieties begin to come in.
They also said that prices were expected to drop once the supply increased, which might take several weeks. The prices of some vegetables have already started to decline.
Regarding price of onions, Akash Mia, a trader from Karwan Bazar, told 抖阴精品 that it had been increasing every week after Eid due to high prices at sources like Faridpur, Pabna and others.
He also said that they would not have anything to do if the prices went up at the wholesale level.
However, the prices of green chillies dropped significantly to Tk 60 a kilogram from that of Tk 120 a kilogram a week ago.
The price of broiler chicken also dropped to Tk 180-190 a kilogram, from Tk 200-210 a few days ago.
The price of beef and mutton stayed the same, about Tk 750-聽800 a kilogram for beef and Tk 1,100-1,200 for mutton.
The price of eggs dropped to Tk 40 a hali (four pieces) or Tk 120 a dozen from Tk 130 a dozen a few days ago, though the prices varied from market to market.
Meanwhile, prices of different rice varieties ranged from Tk 55 to Tk 100 a kilogram, which consumers labelled as 鈥榮table at a high level鈥�.
The fine variety of Miniket maintained its steady high price, selling at Tk 75-85 a kilogram, whereas coarse and medium-quality rice varieties sold at Tk 55-65 a kilogram on Friday.
However, according to information from markets, the price of Miniket was Tk 88 a kilogram.
In the meantime, the government increased the retail price of bottled soya bean oil by Tk 14 a litre on Tuesday. As a result, the retail price of bottled soya bean oil jumped to Tk 189 from Tk 175 a litre.
The new price of a five-litre bottle of soya bean oil has been fixed at Tk 922, up from that of Tk 852 earlier.
Alongside bottled oil, the new price of unpackaged soya bean and palm oil has been fixed at Tk 169 a litre, up from that of Tk 157 a litre.
The prices of all types of fish also witnessed a sharp hike on the market. Prices of popular fish varieties like Pabda, shrimp, Tengra, Mola, and Rohita went up by Tk 20-50 a kilogram over the past few weeks.
Shrimp sold at Tk聽 800-1,200 a kilogram, Pangas at Tk聽 200-220, Tilapia at Tk聽 200-220 and large-sized Rohita at Tk聽 350-400.
Fish traders said that the supply of fish from Mymensingh, Sherpur, Jamalpur and Rajshahi had been short and the prices would come down as supply improved.
Runa Hossain, a buyer from Kallyanpur, said that the prices of almost all essentials had soared and she urged the government to regularly monitor the market.
Earlier, SM Nazer Hossain, vice-president of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh, told 抖阴精品 that there was a lack of monitoring and syndicates were always active on the essential markets. He urged the government to become more active and stricter in monitoring and acting against the syndicates.