In a week, catching hilsa and all other fish in the Padma and Meghna rivers will be banned. Ahead of the government's 22-day ban, the hilsa market at Chandpur's Borostation fish landing, one of the country's largest, has become busy. But with supply low and demand high, prices have risen by an average of Tk 100-200 a kg.

On 26 September, the weekly holiday, buyers from Dhaka and other districts crowded the Borostation landing to buy hilsa. Many were disappointed at being unable to buy as much as they wanted because of rising prices, and many buyers eventually went home empty-handed.

The Borostation landing is one of the country's biggest hilsa wholesale markets, supplying the whole country during the season. Once fishing in the rivers stops, supply to the market will also stop, and the hilsa market will be completely empty for the next three weeks.

A one-kilogram hilsa now sells for Tk 2,300 to Tk 2,400. Depot owners and traders said prices rose because supply from the rivers is not normal. They hoped that if supply increases before the ban, prices might fall somewhat at the end.

Buyers at the landing say prices are much higher than at other times of the year, but they are still crowding in to buy hilsa for their families before the ban.

Iqbal, who came to buy hilsa, said: "I came to Borostation landing to buy hilsa, but sadly I cannot because the price is high. It's a holiday so there are more buyers, and they are asking more. I thought prices might fall at the end, but they have risen instead. I don't think hilsa prices will come down again."

Hilsa traders Saiful and Monsur said the season is now fully at its end and supply is very low. Some hilsa is coming in, but it is small. There is less hilsa at the landing than buyers want, hence the high price. Most buyers leave after hearing the price, so their sales are down. "We can't sell cheaper because we have to buy at high prices at the auction," they said. They saw no chance of prices falling this week unless supply rises sharply.

Shobe Borat Sarkar, general secretary of the district fish traders' association, said hilsa sales at the Borostation landing will stop for 22 days from 4 October, and no hilsa is bought or sold during the ban. At the end, as buyer pressure rises, supply is short.

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