Prices of essentials mostly stable

The prices of daily essentials have remained largely unchanged during the past week, while a few items have become cheaper, bringing slight relief to the people bearing the brunt of the pandemic’s economic fallout.

At several kitchen markets in the capital, including Mohakhali, Rajabazar, Farmgate, Sukrabad and Karwan Bazar, prices of vegetables, fish and oil were found to be mostly unchanged on Friday from the last week.

The price of carrots, for example, remained unchanged at Tk 90-100 a kilogrmme. Prices of pointed gourds, lemons and cucumbers have also remained unchanged at Tk 30-40 per kg, Tk 20 per dozen and Tk 50-60 per kg respectively.

Besides, tomatoes are being sold at Tk 90-120 per kg, long beans at Tk 60 per kg, bottle gourds at Tk 40-50 per kg, bitter gourds at Tk 50-60 per kg and green bananas (four pieces) at Tk 20-25 – the same as last week.

On the other hand, snake gourds now cost Tk 45-50 a kg and lady’s fingers Tk 40 per kg, down by Tk 10 compared to the previous week.

Layek Uddin, a vegetable trader at Karwan Bazar, said vegetable prices would likely go down over the next few days when fresh supplies hit the market.

“But prices of tomatoes and cucumbers will likely go up further as demand for these two items increase during Eid,” he said.

However, rice is still being sold at high prices at the city’s retail markets.

The basmati variety is being sold at Tk 70 per kg, coarse rice Tk 45 per kg, paijam rice (old) Tk 53 per kg, miniket rice Tk 60 per kg, katari rice Tk 55, Rashid miniket Tk 65 per kg, Nawab miniket rice Tk 65-68 per kg, Razzak miniket Tk 60 and BRRI28 and 29 Tk 50-52 per kg.

A rice wholesaler of M/S Shumon Traders at Kachukhet Bazar said the prices of rice did not rise in the wholesale market and blamed unscrupulous traders for the hike at the retail level.

Meanwhile, the price of soya bean oil has remained the same. A one-litre bottle was being sold at Tk 153, two-litre bottle Tk 308 and five-litre bottle Tk 728.

Some shopkeepers were selling soya bean oil at the previous rate at Tk 145 per litre, two-litre bottles at Tk 280 and five-litre bottles at Tk 680. They said they were selling at previous rates as they had old stocks.

Besides, sugar costs Tk 70, lentils of different varieties between Tk 80 and Tk 120, onions Tk 50-55, unpacked flour Tk 28-30 per kg and packed flour Tk 35 per kg.

A private company employee, who did not want to be named, said his expenditure on food has gone up by 15 per cent a month.

Fish prices, on the other hand, was slightly up. “The supply of fish is abundant. But the prices are a little high ahead of Eid-ul-Azha,” said Md Shopon Mia, a fish trader at Karwan Bazar.

But some varieties of fish were being sold at relatively low prices. A kg of medium sized shrimp was selling at Tk 500-600, katla at Tk 220-250 per kg, catfish at Tk 350 per kg, tilapia at Tk 130-150 per kg, rohita at Tk 300-320 per kg and pabda at Tk 320-360 per kg.

On the other hand, broiler chicken was being sold at Tk 130-140 per kg, layer and sonali chicken at Tk 240-250 per kg. Beef was being sold at Tk 580-600 per kg and mutton at Tk 840-880 per kg.

Rickshaw-puller Komol Sarker from Dhanmondi area said his income had dropped during the pandemic and the rising prices were a burden.

“I could buy daily essentials for my family spending Tk 300-350. Now I need to spend Tk 500 to buy the same items. If the prices of vegetables and rice don’t go down, we will be forced to stop eating rice,” he said.