Vegetable prices dip but essential commodity costs keep climbing
Photo: Agamir Somoy
Anxiety remains over essential commodities while the kitchen market stays within reach.
A visit to Karwan Bazar and Mohammadpur Krishi Market in Dhaka showed that although the prices of some vegetables including green chili have dropped slightly, the prices of essential commodities such as rice, sugar, flour, eggs, and milk continue to rise.
Although there is some relief in the vegetable market due to season and weather, general buyers are experiencing discomfort over the price hikes of flour, sugar, and liquid milk.
In Karwan Bazar, most vegetables including eggplant, bitter gourd, yardlong bean, okra, pointed gourd, and teasel gourd are selling at Tk 40-50 per kilogram. In comparison, at Mohammadpur Krishi Market, these vegetables are selling at Tk 55-70 per kilogram.
Cucumber is available at Tk 40 per kilogram and papaya at Tk 30. Round eggplant is selling at Tk 100-110 depending on the market.
At the beginning of August, green chili was selling at Tk 400 per kilogram, but in September the price has dropped by more than half. Depending on the market, each kilogram of green chili is selling at Tk 110-140.
Although vegetable prices in the kitchen market are relatively normal, the prices of other essential commodities have increased. Over the span of a month, prices of essential goods like rice, sugar, flour, eggs, and milk have been constantly increasing.
Sugar is selling at Tk 120 per kilogram, which was Tk 110 in August. Flour, which sold at Tk 55 per kilogram, is now Tk 65. Although there is no major change in the price of regular rice, polao rice is selling at high prices. Loose polao rice is selling at Tk 190-200 per kilogram, and packaged polao rice at Tk 220-230. Liquid milk of various brands is selling at Tk 110 per liter, which was Tk 100 in August.
Meanwhile, a similar picture was seen in the fish market. Tilapia is selling at Tk 250-260 per kilogram, pangas at Tk 230-250, rui-katla at Tk 380-420, and shrimp at Tk 1,000-1,300, pabda at Tk 350-400, large-sized rui at Tk 450-500, tengra at Tk 700, vetki at Tk 400-550, mrigel at Tk 250-300, bain at Tk 600-800, local koi at Tk 700-800, farmed koi at Tk 300, poa at Tk 260, and shol fish at Tk 700.
According to market insiders, although the volatility of the kitchen market depends on the season and weather, the price hike of essential commodities like flour, sugar, and milk is not solely due to supply shortages.
Corporate syndicates, unscrupulous brokerage at the wholesale level, and a lack of monitoring are primarily responsible for this. According to them, instead of conducting drives only at the retail level, it is necessary to regularly monitor the production and selling prices of importers and mill owners.
Moreover, if the supply of essential commodities in the open market through the TCB is increased, ordinary buyers can be relieved from this unwanted suffering.
