Anyone wanting to buy a hilsa of one kilogram or more has to go round two or three markets, because supply of large hilsa is short. And when you do find one, the price is enough to make your head spin: a hilsa of a kilo or slightly bigger now costs Tk 3,400 to 4,000.

Monday, 14 April, is Pahela Baishakh, the Bengali New Year, which is why hilsa prices in the capital's markets are so high. Supply of large hilsa in particular is very thin and prices are sky-high. This was the picture in several of the capital's markets on the morning of Sunday, 13 April, the day before Baishakh.

Buyers complain that wholesale and retail traders are cashing in on the "city-centred" demand for hilsa, the main partner of panta rice in the panta-ilish tradition of Pahela Baishakh.

Traders say demand for hilsa has risen in the markets of Barishal and the rest of the south around the Baishakh festival. But with the ban on catching jatka (young hilsa) in force, hilsa fishing has stopped at many river mouths, so supply has fallen and prices have risen in both retail and wholesale markets.

In the Malibagh, Rampura and Middle Badda markets that day, hilsa of 700 to 800 grams sold for Tk 2,000 to 2,400 a kg, 500 to 600 grams for Tk 1,300 to 1,500 a kg, 400 to 500 grams for Tk 1,000 to 1,200 a kg, and small fish of 200 to 250 grams, four or five to the kilo, for Tk 700 to 800 a kg.

Altaf Hossain, a fish seller at Rampura market, said: "Catching jatka is banned now, so fishing has stopped in many places. And from the day after Baishakh no fish will be available. So a shortage has built up in the market just as demand rose for Baishakh."

Jatka fishing is currently banned, so catching hilsa and all other fish is prohibited in sanctuaries across the country. In addition, hilsa fishing and marketing will be completely shut for 58 days from 15 April to 11 June. For this reason more fish from Chattogram in particular has reached the market.

Prices have also risen in the wholesale market. At the wholesale depots of Karwan Bazar, Jatrabari and Merul Badda in Dhaka, supply shortages have pushed a maund of hilsa to Tk 1 lakh, and even a maund of small hilsa has passed Tk 50,000.

Hilsa seller Farid Hossain said the price per kg rose by Tk 200 overnight compared with the day before, and it is higher even at the Barishal and Chattogram landing centres the hilsa comes from.

A man named Bijon Kumar said there is no Barishal fish. Fishing has been banned for two months in the Meghna river sanctuary, and there is currently a severe scarcity of hilsa and other fish in all other rivers too.

At the Badda market, seller Jamal Hossain was asking Tk 10,000 for a hali (four) of 700-gram hilsa. Asked about it, he said that a week earlier these fish were under Tk 2,000 each, meaning the price has risen by more than Tk 2,000 a hali.

A buyer at the same market said: "It's nothing but the sellers striking while they can. Some rich people are buying. But people like us who run our households on a budget won't get fish this Baishakh."

Asked why large fish are so scarce, a seller named Elias Hossain said: "A one-kilo hilsa costs Tk 3,200 to 3,500 wholesale. At what price would I sell it after buying it? What if it doesn't sell? Selling hilsa is banned after Baishakh."

Wholesale fish seller Saiful Islam said hilsa sales are lower this year because of the high prices and because Baishakh falls straight after Eid. "People have no money after Eid, so sales are not good," he said.

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