Lovely Akter, from Barishal, bought a pair of hilsa in Dhaka for Tk 1,600. A few days later she went to her village home in Bakerganj and found a pair of the same size selling for Tk 2,500.

"I was very surprised. The hilsa is caught in these places and sent to Dhaka. Yet the fish is cheaper there, and where it is caught the price is so high!"

Hers is not the only such experience.

Nazma Anwar, a shopper at Dhaka's Kathalbagan fish market, says that two days earlier she bought hilsa weighing about a kilogram each at Tk 900 a kg.

Meanwhile Taimur Hossain, a buyer in Jhalakathi, says hilsa of one kilogram are now selling there at Tk 1,200 a kg.

After being caught in the rivers or the sea, these hilsa are packed in ice and carried long distances by trawler or truck to be sold in cities such as Dhaka.

So why is hilsa dearer in the places where it is caught than in Dhaka?

Mojnu Hossain trades hilsa at Patharghata in Barguna. He buys the fish wholesale and sends it to Dhaka.

Speaking to him, it emerged that two kinds of hilsa mainly arrive at this landing centre. One is river hilsa, caught in the large nearby rivers such as the Pashur and the Baleshwar.

These reach the wholesale depots on the day they are caught and taste better, so they sell at a higher price. At this landing centre they fetch Tk 750 to Tk 900 a kg, and larger fish cost a little more.

Source: BBC Bangla. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.