Prices of chicken, onion fall

The price of chicken and onion fell within a week in Dhaka’s kitchen markets but consumers claimed that the overall commodities market situation is still not favourable for them.

On Friday, a kg broiler chicken cost Tk 160-165, down from Tk 190-195 per kg a week ago. Besides, sonalika variety was selling at Tk 290-295 per kg, down by Tk 25.

Chicken traders said that the supply of broiler chicken is combatively higher. Besides, the prices of items needed for chicken farming, including medicines and feed, declined which may have influenced the recent fall in prices.

Talking to The Business Post, Md Moslem, a seller at Al Baraka Chicken House at Mirpur-1 said, “Broiler chicken prices fell compared to the last week which boosted our sales.”

At several kitchen markets in the capital, a kilogram of local onion was selling at Tk 60-64 which was sold at Tk 65-70 last week. The Indian variety was selling between Tk 45 and Tk 50.

A customer, Fazlur Rahman, said, “The prices of essential items, especially vegetables, keep rising every day making it hard for us to buy them.”

“Market monitoring should be increases by the authorities concerned to stop commodities price hike,” he added.

The Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners’ and Vanaspati Manufacturers’ Association (BVORVMA) already raised the price of soybean oil by Tk 7 and palm oil by Tk 3 per litre.

Currently, a litre of bottled soybean oil is being sold at Tk 160 and unbottled soybean at Tk 136. Besides, five-litre bottled soybean oil costs Tk 760 and per litre palm oil Tk 118.

On September 14, the government withdrew import duty on onion and reduced the duty on sugar by 10 per cent to stabilise the prices of the two essential commodities in the local market.