Fruit prices in Dinajpur's markets are beyond buyers' reach, with everything except papaya expensive. Despite ample supply, date sales have fallen because of high prices, and many traders fear their dates will spoil.

This was the situation found at wholesale and retail markets in the town's Bahadur Bazar, Zilla School Mor, Station Road, Chawk Bazar, Guduri Bazar, Pulhat and Rail Bazar.

Depending on type, apples are selling at Tk 260 to Tk 450 a kg, pears at Tk 500, oranges at Tk 360 to Tk 400, malta at Tk 350, pomegranates at Tk 550 to Tk 600, red grapes at Tk 500 to Tk 550 and green grapes at Tk 450 a kg.

Among local fruit, jujube (boroi) is selling at Tk 100 to Tk 120 a kg and guava at Tk 80 to Tk 100. Mobile stalls are selling watermelon at Tk 90 a kg. Sabri bananas cost Tk 40 to Tk 50 a hali (four), pineapples Tk 100 a pair, green coconuts Tk 120 to Tk 150, and bael (wood apple) Tk 50 to Tk 100 depending on size.

About 26 kinds of dates are on sale. Dabas dates cost Tk 550 to Tk 600 a kg, sticky dates Tk 200 to Tk 250, Sukkari Tk 800, dried grape dates Tk 700 to Tk 800, Mariam Tk 1,200 to Tk 1,250, Minifi Tk 600 to Tk 650, Ajwa Tk 900 to Tk 1,000 and Medjool Tk 1,400 to Tk 1,600. For well-off buyers there are also premium dates at Tk 2,000 to Tk 3,000 a kg.

Fruit traders say buyers have fallen away as imported fruit has become more expensive, and sales are down. Sales in Ramadan are below expectations and buyers turn away on hearing the prices. Date sales in particular are poor: prices have eased slightly since the first day of Ramadan, but buyers still cannot afford them, so many traders' dates may spoil in their godowns.

Amir Hossain, a fruit trader at Pourashava Mor, said: "Buyers don't like the Tk 240 'haddi' apples, and all other apples are expensive. I have to buy good apples wholesale at Tk 360 a kg. Unless I can sell them for at least Tk 400, it is hard to pay shop rent, the electricity bill and staff wages. Rotten apples, oranges and grapes come out of the cartons, and those cannot be given to buyers. Dates have now become a thorn in traders' throats."

Traders said prices of various fruits have risen because of the election and Ramadan; pears, for example, have gone up by Tk 200. "We buy at retail and sell. It is now hard to make even Tk 1,000 profit in a whole day, and then there is shop rent and other costs," they said.

Hawker Shahjahan Ali said: "I carry fruit on a shoulder pole and walk all day selling it. Ordinary people cannot buy because prices are high. Papaya sells a little cheaper; for Tk 50 to Tk 60 people can buy one. It has become hard to earn Tk 500 to Tk 600 after walking all day."

Wholesaler Helal Hossain said fruit prices have risen sharply because import duties have gone up. No fruit is imported through Dinajpur's Hili port, so it has to be brought from Benapole at high transport cost. "So we are importing on a small scale. If fruit spoils, we lose everything," he said.

Mukul Hossain, a fruit trader in front of Dinajpur Zilla School, said buyers have fallen as imported fruit prices rose. Various fruits used to sell as iftar items but there is no demand now, and at the rate buyers are dwindling it is becoming hard to keep the business going.

Buyer Imrul Kayes Rupom said: "Buying fruit is now a dream. There is no good fruit under Tk 400 to Tk 500 a kg. The dates known as 'bosta' (sack) dates sold at Tk 220 to Tk 250 a kg are not fit to eat; you have to buy dates costing over Tk 600 at least. How many people can afford that? The middle class cannot even mention foreign fruit; prices are sky-high. You cannot find a kilogram of apples under Tk 400, and malta that cost Tk 200 is now Tk 400. This time most people have dropped fruit from their iftar list."

Another buyer, Liton Hossain Akash, said he works as a computer operator at a private company and it is hard to run his household on his salary. "Even so, looking at my children's faces, I buy one or two pieces of fruit. If I buy grapes, I buy 250 or 500 grams. Fruit prices are high this Ramadan," he said.

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