Hilsa prices have soared again at the Boro Station fish landing in Chandpur. On Friday, 12 December, a holiday, buyers who came to the landing from different parts of the country were dismayed by the prices and left empty-handed. People in the trade say hilsa prices have risen almost threefold because supply has fallen.

At the landing, a hilsa weighing one kilogram was selling for between Tk 4,000 and Tk 4,500 that day. Buyers complained that excessive prices have put hilsa beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Fahim Hasan and Nur Uddin, buyers who came from Dhaka, said the price bore no relation to normal market rates. Many had expected prices to ease with more supply on the holiday, but the opposite happened: hilsa was scarcer and dearer. No more than one to one and a half maunds of hilsa arrived from morning to noon.

Hilsa seller Samrat said fewer hilsa are being caught in the river because it is not the hilsa season, creating a supply shortage. Sales have fallen because of the higher prices, he said, with only two or three large hilsa sold all day. A 1kg hilsa sells for over Tk 4,000, and smaller ones for Tk 3,500 to Tk 3,700.

Entrepreneur Iqbal Bahar said hilsa supply had been very low this year. Prices rose from the start and never came down, and hilsa is now at a record price. Not everyone can afford to buy, and buyers come to the landing but cannot purchase. Fresh hilsa from the Padma and Meghna is now almost absent in Chandpur, he said, and prices may fall when the season starts again.

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