Bengalis, as the saying goes, are made of fish and rice, and hilsa is their favourite fish. Come the monsoon or Durga Puja, their hearts turn to hilsa. It is on sale in the fish markets of Kolkata and its suburbs, but the big question is what it will cost, because silver hilsa is anything but cheap in the markets of Kolkata and the rest of West Bengal.

Big hilsa are scarce in the markets; small and medium fish dominate. Only a few fish shops have hilsa weighing a little over 1 kg, and very few at that.

In Kolkata and its adjoining suburbs, hilsa weighing 900g to 1kg sell for Rs 1,600, fish of 800g to 700g for Rs 900 or, in some places, Rs 1,000, and a 500g hilsa for about Rs 600 to Rs 750.

Shyamapada Gop, a fish trader in Birati, a suburb next to Kolkata, said hilsa prices are somewhat high because supply is low. Indian hilsa is available in the market there, he said, but Bangladeshi hilsa is not coming in.

With supply short, hilsa prices are climbing in the fish markets of Kolkata and West Bengal. A large share of Kolkata's hilsa now comes from Gujarat and Myanmar. Relations between India and Bangladesh have recently sunk low for political reasons, and with the supply of tasty Bangladeshi hilsa halted, people in West Bengal must depend on hilsa from Myanmar and Gujarat to fill the gap.

Kolkata buyers say hilsa from Gujarat and Myanmar cannot compare with Bangladesh's Padma hilsa, whose taste and quality are many times better. Even so, Kolkata's fish markets have to rely on Gujarat and Myanmar to keep hilsa in supply.

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