Prices of rice, lentils, soybean oil and other daily essentials held steady in Dhaka's retail and wholesale markets over the long Durga Puja holiday, and eggs became cheaper over the past two days. That was the picture in Shewrapara, Kazipara and other markets in the capital on Tuesday, 20 October.
Fine and coarse rice were both selling at their earlier prices. Miniket rice sold for Tk 72 to 85 a kilogram, and medium BR-28 and coarse Swarna rice for Tk 55 to 65.
Farm eggs fell by Tk 10 a dozen in two days to Tk 140. Last week brown farm eggs sold for Tk 150 a dozen and white ones for Tk 145. Fine red lentils (masoor) were Tk 10 a kilogram cheaper than last week at Tk 150, coarse masoor sold for Tk 90, split chickpeas for Tk 140 and mung for Tk 160.
Bottled soybean oil sold at the government-set price of Tk 205 a litre and loose soybean oil at Tk 190. A few retailers, citing slower deliveries from dealers over the holiday, were charging Tk 2 to 5 a litre more for loose soybean and palm oil.
Rabiul Islam, shopping in Kazipara, said some price usually goes up whenever the Puja holiday comes, but this time rice, lentils and oil cost what they did last week. Sohidul Islam, a seller at Bhai Bhai General Store in Shewrapara, said rice, oil, sugar, salt and flour had not risen noticeably.
People in the trade said the calm would hold if the government kept up its monitoring so that trucks carrying food were not held up on the excuse of the holiday. Cheaper eggs and lentils have eased household spending during the break.
The report is by Banglanews24's senior correspondent.
Photo: Kritzolina / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Banglanews24
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