High rising prices of essentials goods 

Traders hiked prices of essentials and vegetables yesterday, cashing in on the increased demand on the first day of Ramadan.

From brinjal, cucumber, green chili, potato to onion and chicken, consumers had to pay more yesterday than a couple of days ago.

“The price of brinjal is too high. I just dropped the item from my shopping list,” said Raihan Rashid at Mirpur-1 kitchen market.

The vegetable is used for making snacks to break fast. Its prices shot up to Tk 100 a kilogram, up by Tk 50 in just four days.

The prices of cucumber and green chili doubled to Tk 60 a kg in the middle of last week.

Mohammad Alamgir Hossain, a vegetable retailer at Palashi kitchen market, said vegetable prices rose at wholesale level as the Ramadan began. It ultimately had an effect on the retail prices, he added.

Yesterday, he bought five kgs of cucumber for Tk 250, up by Tk 50 in a day.

“Everybody knows that people would buy essentials even after paying higher prices in the early days of Ramadan,” said Alamgir.

Prices of beans, bottle gourd and pointed gourd, which are not used in Iftar items, have remained stable, said Ashraful Islam, a vegetable vendor in Azimpur.

The price of potato, which sold for Tk 22 a kg till the middle of last week, rose to Tk 25.

Prices of onion, garlic, ginger and palm oil went up ahead of Ramadan although the government and the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry announced that there was an adequate stock of essentials to meet the demand in the fasting month.

Onion, an essential cooking ingredient, sold at Tk 50 a kg yesterday, which was traded at Tk 30-45 till the middle of last week, according to Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.

Prices of chicken, particularly broiler chicken, and fishes have also soared.

Market price data, collected by the Department of Agricultural Marketing, also confirmed the gradual rise in prices of essentials in the run-up to Ramadan.

However, the prices of gram and dates were steady.

Raihan, an employee at a private firm, had to buy each kilogram of broiler chicken at Tk 175 at Mirpur-1 kitchen market yesterday. Two days ago, he could have bought it for Tk 165.

Meat vendors at Palashi kitchen market were charging customers up to Tk 400 for a kg of beef.

Raihan said he wanted to buy some fish, but was not sure whether he could afford some with his budget. None of the varieties of small fishes was sold below Tk 500 a kg.

Faruk Hossain, an employee at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, was annoyed with the price spiral.

“Traders were just taking an unfair advantage of the increased demand,” he said.

PRICES UP IN CTG

In Chittagong, brinjal was selling at between Tk 50 and Tk 80 a kg, green chili Tk 60 and Tk 100, tomato Tk 50 and Tk 70, cucumber Tk 40 and Tk 50 and carrot Tk 70 and Tk 80 at the kitchen markets at Gate-2, Kazir Dewry and Bahaddarhat, reports our correspondent.

A week ago, brinjal sold at between Tk 20 and Tk 30, green chili and tomato Tk 30 and Tk 40, cucumber Tk 25 and Tk 30 and carrot Tk 30 and Tk 40.

Md Salahuddin, a student, said such a sudden rise in prices of essentials put the lower income groups in deep trouble in the holy month.