Hilsa prices have hit a record at the Boro Station fish landing in Chandpur, rising by Tk 500-600 a kg. Traders and buyers said prices had never been this high in Chandpur's history.

Even at the height of the hilsa season, fishermen on the Padma and Meghna in Chandpur are not catching the hilsa they expected. As a result, supply has fallen for several days at Boro Station, one of the country's largest retail and wholesale hilsa markets. Where 500-700 maunds of hilsa used to arrive every day, less than 100 maunds is arriving now, and prices have jumped by Tk 500-600 a kg in one go.

A hilsa weighing 1kg now sells at Boro Station for Tk 2,400 to Tk 2,500, compared with Tk 1,700 to Tk 1,800 a week ago. Hilsa over 1kg are selling for Tk 2,800 to Tk 3,000. Buyers are angry at the soaring prices.

Iqbal, a hilsa buyer, said: "I have never seen hilsa this expensive at the Chandpur landing. I buy to sell online myself, but the situation is different now. It isn't possible to buy hilsa at these prices."

Hilsa trader Kamal Hossain said: "Supply at the landing has fallen a lot. There isn't enough hilsa to meet demand, which is why prices are high, up Tk 500-600 a kg. I have been in business a long time and never seen this. There should be plenty of buyers at this time, but because of the price there are none."

Abdul Bari Manik Jamadar, president of the Chandpur Fish Traders' Association, said the sale of all kinds of fish at the landing will be banned from 13 October. "It should be very busy now, but there is little hilsa. That is why prices have hit a record," he said.

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