Joyanta Kumar is a deed writer at the Barishal sub-registry office. On his way to the market in the morning, his children begged him to bring home hilsa. But after going round the market he could not buy a single hilsa he could afford, and in the end went home with a pangas instead.

It is not just Joyanta Kumar; the same picture is found in every low- and middle-income family now. Buyers are frustrated at the high price of hilsa, and some people are close to forgetting its taste.

A visit on Friday (17 May) morning to Port Road fish landing centre, Barishal's largest wholesale hub, found 500g hilsa selling at Tk 1,650 a kg, against Tk 950 last year. Hilsa of 800g, sold at Tk 1,200 last year, now fetch Tk 2,350. One-kilo hilsa, sold at Tk 1,500 last year, now sell at Tk 2,800 a kg.

Traders at the arats said the expected hilsa has not been arriving for several days. At this time in past years 1,000-1,200 maunds of hilsa would arrive, but for quite some days only 150-200 maunds have been coming, so with short supply the price has doubled.

Traders say the arats should be full of hilsa at this time, but supply falls short of demand. Even in the peak season there is no hilsa in local rivers, and most of what comes is from the sea.

Ashraf Mahmud, buying fish at the Port Road wholesale market, told Jagonews24: "Hilsa I used to buy at Tk 1,400-1,600 a kg now costs over Tk 2,500. Traders have formed a syndicate and raised prices on the excuse of low supply. Hilsa isn't imported from abroad; it's fish from our own rivers and sea. I see no reason for prices to rise so much."

Another buyer, Alam Mridha, said: "I came to the Port Road wholesale market instead of my local bazar hoping to buy a little cheaper, but here too hilsa is selling as dear as in the retail market. I bought four small hilsa of 700g for Tk 3,200. People will soon forget the taste of hilsa."

Buyer Siraj Howlader said he had to buy pangas because he could not afford hilsa. "Hilsa of 500g size has become Tk 1,000-1,500 a kg, which used to be Tk 500-950. The price of pangas has also risen. I bought pangas at Tk 280 a kg, which used to be Tk 150-200."

Md Robin, manager of Messrs Dulal Fish, a hilsa arat at Port Road, said: "For a month, trawlers have been bringing an average of 150 to 200-250 maunds of hilsa to Port Road. But at this time thousands of maunds should be coming. Even a few years ago, in the peak season, 2,000 maunds of hilsa would be traded at the Port Road arats by the end of the day."

Yar Hossain Sikder, finance secretary of the Port Road fish landing centre aratdars' association, said: "We have 170 arats in all. Before the peak season 1,000-1,200 maunds of hilsa came every day; now 150-200 maunds are coming. Sales used to run into crores of taka; now they are only about Tk 40-50 lakh." Fishermen are returning from the rivers almost empty-handed, so river hilsa is not being seen at the arats, and some fish are coming from the sea, he said.

Nripendra Nath Biswas, deputy director of the Department of Fisheries' Barishal divisional office, told Jagonews24 that low water in the rivers and the severe heatwave have slowed fish growth, and the fish are also under stress, so their movement is reduced and fewer are caught in fishermen's nets.

He said that when it rains and the heatwave eases, fish movement and production will increase, more will be caught, and prices will then fall somewhat.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.