A laid-back atmosphere continued to prevail in the capital鈥檚 kitchen markets on Friday, after six days of Eid al-Azha.
After visiting Karwan Bazar, Kallyanpur Natun Bazar and shops of some street vendors, it was observed that many shops were still shuttered and there was a noticeable decline in customer turnout, resulting in sluggishness in trading activities.
Moreover, prices of several items that witnessed a hike before Eid, like chicken, green chillis and cucumber, have now come down.
Sellers said that it might take several more days for the kitchen markets to return to normalcy.
Meanwhile, supply chain for daily essentials, except vegetables and fish, also remained partially disrupted.
Eid-ul-Azha, one of the biggest religious festivals of the Muslims, was celebrated in the country on June 7. On the occasion, jobholders got to enjoy a 10-day holiday that began on June 5 and will end today.
Due to this, many city dwellers, who travelled outside the capital, are yet to return, and sales have been sluggish over the past few days due to a lack of customers.
However, vendors said that they were hopeful about picking up business from next week.
On Friday, prices of Miniket rice and most vegetables remained stable on the capital鈥檚 kitchen markets owing to an abundant supply.
According to traders, the price of Miniket rice has dropped by Tk 10-15 a kilogram over the past months and has remained at the same level.
On the day, fine variety of Miniket rice of different brands was sold at Tk 65-80 a kilogram, which was Tk 75-100 a kilogram a month ago.
Tofazzal Ahmed, owner of Al Amin Traders at Karwan Bazar, said that the price of rice dropped due to the arrival of new boro rice.
On Friday, the prices of coarse and other variants of rice were ranging from Tk 52 to Tk 65 a kilogram.
The prices of almost all vegetables remained unchanged, while the price of cucumber and green chillis witnessed a decline.
Among high-priced items, onions were sold at Tk 55-60 a kilogram, while local garlic was sold at Tk 130 a kilogram and its imported variety at Tk 200 a kilogram.
Almost all vegetables were available at a price range of Tk 30-50 a kilogram.
Spiny gourd was sold at Tk 50 a kilogram, snake gourd, loofa, pointed gourd, yardlong bean and bitter gourd were sold at Tk 30-50 a kilogram on the markets.
Lady fingers were sold for Tk 30 a kilogram and all types of aubergine for Tk30-40 a kilogram.
Before Eid, the price of cucumber rose to Tk 80-100 a kilogram and that of green chillis to Tk 80-120 a kilogram.
However, after Eid, the prices of cucumbers and聽 green chillies dropped significantly, to Tk 50 and Tk 40-50 a kilogram聽respectively.
Red chillis were sold at Tk 330-400 a kilogram depending on the variant.
The prices of potatoes remained unchanged at Tk 20-25 a kilogram.
However, as tomato season ended, the price of the item rose to Tk 60-80 a kilogram.
Broiler chicken prices also witnessed a hike before Eid, rising to Tk 180-200 a kilogram, but on Friday, dropped to Tk 160-170 a kilogram, while eggs were sold for Tk 130 a dozen.
Md Shariful, a trader at Karwan Bazar, told 抖阴精品 that due to disrupted supply and low customer numbers, the businesses experienced sluggishness.
鈥楢s the offices will reopen from Sunday and city dwellers have already started returning to Dhaka, we hope the market would pick up in next week,鈥� he added.
Packaged soya bean oil was sold at Tk 189 a litre and a 5-litre bottle of item at Tk 922, whereas the prices of unpackaged soya bean and palm oil were Tk 169 a litre.
The prices of beef and mutton remained unchanged, at approximately Tk 750-800 a kilogram and Tk 1,100-1,200 a kilogram respectively.
Fish markets also saw a thin crowd, with prices for many species falling slightly.