No respite for consumers: Kitchen market item prices still high
Staff Reporter :
Following the announcement of onion import, the price of the product has reduced Tk 5 per kg and is now being sold at Tk 75 in the capital’s kitchen markets whereas one week earlier it reached Tk 80.
On the other hand, despite ample supply of summer season vegetables in the market, the prices of the items still remained high in the market putting the poor people under huge pressure to maintain their family.
Moreover, the price of vegetables, fish, meat and other daily essentials did not show any sign of reduction. Furthermore, the prices of ginger and cumin went beyond purchasing capacity of the consumers ahead of holy Eid-ul-Azha, the second largest religious festival of the Muslim community.
After visiting capital’s few kitchen and spice markets it was seen that the price of ginger and cumin have increased abnormally. Besides, other essentials price remained still high.
There is no ginger which is being sold less than Tk 300 per kg. Good quality Chinese ginger is being sold at Tk 400. Only two weeks earlier the prices of these products were almost half in the market.
On the other hand, the price of cumin has increased by Tk 300 per kilogram and it is now being sold at Tk 900 in the spice market while garlic is being sold at Tk 180. The price of essential item in Bengali cuisine green chili is also soaring and being sold at Tk 200 to Tk 220.
The traders are showing various reasons for increasing the prices of essentials with a particular reference to shutting of imports.
Ehasan Ansari , a private job holder, told the the New Nation that a dishonest business syndicate was increasing the product prices as their demands rose in the market. As the The holy Eid-ul-Azha is approaching, these traders have increased the price of spices more than twice or thrice.
He said the government is indifferent to this matter. As a result, the businessmen are behaving desperately by increasing essentials price.
On the other hand, the price of chickens (broiler, sonali, popularly known as Pakistani cock), beef still remained high.
The chickens price did not decrease from the level during Eid-ul-Fitr and now broiler chicken is being sold at Tk 230 to Tk 240 and Sonali at Tk 320 to Tk 330. The egg is being sold at Tk 145 to Tk 150 per dozen.
Mehadi Jamil , a private employee who used to buy daily essentials for whole month at once, said kitchen market has turned into a place of fear for the middle income group people. We are regularly cutting short the list of basic items due to high prices, but still it is impossible to survive, he said.
He further said the middle class now started to sacrifice food quality because of soaring prices of the staple. As a result protein and vitamin are automatically removed from the food chart.
The price of potato, the mostly used vegetable in the Bengali kitchen, has also increased remarkably as per kg potato is being sold at Tk 40 whereas before Eid it was at Tk 20 to Tk 25.
Sohel, a customer from capital Karwan Bazaar, said we heard that the country had a huge production of potato in the last season, but its price has increased without any reason. It’s all about the businessmen manipulation, he said.
On the other hand, there is no good news from the vegetable market as almost all vegetables are selling at high prices. It is hard to believe that papaya is being sold at Tk 60 per kg.
The others-bitter gourd is being sold at Tk 80 to Tk 100, ladies finger at Tk 60 to Tk 70, drum stick at Tk 120 to Tk 140, brinjal at Tk 80 to Tk 100.
