Shoppers in Chattogram's kitchen markets are still waiting for relief. Vegetable and fish prices rise one day and slip the next, and eggs and chicken have been on an upward path for weeks. That was the picture on Friday, 18 September, in a round of the city's Riazuddin Bazar, Bahaddarhat and Chawkbazar.

The sharpest weekly jumps were in green chilli and yardlong bean, both up Tk 40 a kilogram. Green chilli that sold at Tk 120 last week is now Tk 160; yardlong bean has gone from Tk 80 to Tk 120. Brinjal rose from Tk 120 to Tk 140, hyacinth bean from Tk 180–200 to Tk 200–210, and cucumber from Tk 50–60 to Tk 80. Carrot held at Tk 80, ridge gourd and bitter gourd were unchanged at Tk 80, and pointed gourd stayed near last week's low.

Shamsul Alam, a vegetable seller at Riazuddin Bazar, said retail prices never stay the same from day to day; they move with supply and purchase prices at the Pahartali wholesale market. Nazrul Islam, buying vegetables at Bahaddarhat, said prices had not yet returned to a tolerable level and that buying several kinds of vegetables at once pushed the total bill up sharply.

Fish prices were broadly unchanged. Pangas sold at Tk 230 a kilogram and tilapia at Tk 260, prawn at Tk 800–900 depending on quality, pabda at Tk 350–450, large rohu at Tk 450–500 and tengra at Tk 700. Juwel Sheikh, a fish seller at Riazuddin Bazar, said wholesale prices were high and transport and other costs came on top, so retail prices could not be lowered.

Farm chicken and eggs remain expensive. Broiler was Tk 190–200 a kilogram and a dozen farm eggs Tk 150. Egg sellers at Chawkbazar said wholesale prices had barely moved for days. Their explanation: over the past five or six months, flooding, excessive rain and heat reduced the number of laying hens and broilers on many farms, and the resulting supply shortfall is what keeps egg and chicken prices from falling.

For poultry farmers that account is telling: bird losses from the monsoon's floods, rain and heat are still showing up in retail egg and broiler prices five to six months later. And the sellers' insistence that vegetable prices are set by supply and buying rates at the Pahartali wholesale market underlines how much of Chattogram's retail vegetable price is decided at one wholesale hub.

Source: banglanews24