Staff Reporter :
The prices of green chillies have increased sharply across Dhaka’s retail markets, reaching Tk300-320 per kilogramme on Friday due to dwindling supply caused by four days of continuous rainfall.
Moreover, the price of other vegetables also got dearer in the city markets for the last few days.
Retailers at Kalyanpur BRTC Market were seen selling 250 grams of green chilli for Tk80 to Tk100. A week ago, the price was around Tk100 per kg.
“Just last week, we bought 5kg of chillies wholesale for Tk200. Today (Friday), that cost us Tk800,” said vendor Omar Faruk.
“We retail it at Tk320 per kg, but even then, a portion gets spoiled and must be discarded,” he explained.
For the past four days, parts of the country, including Dhaka, experienced incessant rains, disrupting vegetable supplies from rural areas. Vendors say the price hike is driven by low supply against consumer demand.
At Karwan Bazar kitchen market, vendor Mohammad Sakib, who only sells green chillies, said, “Supply has dropped due to the rain, but demand remains high. That’s why the price is high as well.”
Shopper Mominur Rahman, who bought half a kilo of chillies from Sakib’s stall for Tk150, said, “I came to the market expecting to spend around Tk100 per kg. Last week I bought green chillies at Tk80. This is beyond our budget.”
According to the Meteorological Department, a low-pressure over the Bay of Bengal and the monsoon winds have caused the downpour. It also forecast a continuation of rain for the next couple of days.
Apart from the steep rise in the green chilli prices, the prices of different types of vegetables also went up significantly in the city markets.
Brinjal (long) was selling at Tk 100-120 on Thursday against the previous rates of Tk 80-85.
Tomato prices were ranging between Tk 150 and Tk170 per kg, carrot Tk 160 and Tk170 and pointed gourd is Tk 60-70 a kg, much higher than that of their previous rates.
Okra was selling at Tk 60-70 and bitter gourd Tk 80-90 a kg, though the rates varied from one market to another.
Most of the vegetables prices were Tk 10-20 up from their previous prices.
On the other hand, Egg prices, which had fallen sharply, inched up again for the last couple of days.
A dozen of farm eggs were selling at Tk 125-130 against Tk 120 just a week back.
Prices of ‘Broiler chicken remained steady at Tk 160-180 per kg.
Meanwhile, prices of rice, which registered an upward trend previously, maintained almost a steady trend last week.
According to the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), the fine variety of rice rose by 5.26 per cent in the past month, which was 16 per cent up more than a year ago.
Prices of medium varieties rice were 13 per cent up in the last month with 18.18 per cent year-on-year rise.
On the other hand, coarse varieties of rice were selling 9.52 per cent higher from their previous month’s prices.
