Even at the height of the season, rivers and the sea off Barishal are not yielding enough hilsa, and buyers cannot afford what does arrive because of high prices. Where a thousand maunds of hilsa used to arrive at this time of year, the wholesale markets are now getting 150-200 maunds. Wholesalers say prices are somewhat higher because supply is low, and will fall when supply rises.

On the morning of Monday, 16 September, at the Port Road fish landing centre, Barishal's biggest wholesale hilsa market, hilsa of 1.5kg were selling at Tk 1,900 a kg, 1,200g fish at Tk 1,750, 1kg fish at Tk 1,650, 700-900g fish at Tk 1,450, 500g fish at Tk 1,200, and fish running three to a kilogram at Tk 800.

Buyers say hilsa sold at half this price last year. They say hilsa exports are closed this time, so the only reason for the high price is a syndicate of dishonest traders.

Saiful Islam, a private-sector employee who came to buy hilsa at Port Road market, said: "When I left for the market this morning, my son and daughter insisted I bring hilsa home. But after going round the market I could not find a single hilsa within my means. In the end I had no choice but to buy one of 900g for Tk 1,500."

It is not only Saiful Islam; this is now the picture in every low- and middle-income family. Buyers are frustrated at the high price of hilsa, and some people are almost forgetting its taste.

Another buyer, Sohag Jomaddar, said: "Instead of buying fish at my local market, I came to the Port Road wholesale market hoping to buy cheaper. But here too prices are as high as in the retail market. Even so, I bought four small hilsa of 500g each for Tk 2,500. Things have got to the point where people will soon forget the taste of hilsa."

A buyer named Sabbir Ahmed said he came to buy hilsa but could not afford it and had to buy pangas instead. A kilogram of 500g hilsa now costs Tk 1,200, against Tk 500-800 before. The price of pangas has also risen: he bought it at Tk 280 a kg, compared with Tk 150-200 earlier.

Another buyer, Murad Hossain, said traders had formed a syndicate and raised prices on the pretext of low supply. "Otherwise it's not as if hilsa is coming from abroad. It's fish from our own rivers and sea. I see no reason for such a price rise."

Wholesalers say hilsa has not been arriving in the expected quantities for several days. In the past, 1,000 to 1,200 maunds of hilsa used to arrive at this time; for quite some days now it has been 150-200 maunds, so prices have risen somewhat because of low supply, and will fall again when supply rises.

Md Robin, manager of Port Road wholesaler Messrs Dulal Fish, said that for the past month trawlers have been bringing an average of 150 to 200-250 maunds of hilsa to the Port Road market, when thousands of maunds should be arriving at this time. Even a few years ago, 2,000 maunds of hilsa changed hands at the Port Road wholesalers by the end of a day at the peak of the season.

He added that less hilsa is coming to market than the season should bring, while demand has risen several times over. With little hilsa, buyers' demand cannot be met, and prices have risen somewhat because of it.

Iyar Hossain Sikder, former finance secretary of the wholesalers' association at the Port Road fish landing centre, said 1,000 to 1,200 maunds of hilsa used to arrive daily at the 170 wholesale houses at the height of the season, against 150 to 200 maunds now. Sales once ran into crores of taka; now they come to only Tk 40-50 lakh.

He said that although it is the monsoon season, very little hilsa is arriving at Port Road in Barishal. Where 30-50 trawlers came in a normal season, at most 15 to 20 trawlers are now arriving, bringing about 200 maunds of hilsa in all. That is why prices are much higher.

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