Fresh hilsa roe is selling for Tk 5,000 to 6,000 a kg in Kuakata, Patuakhali, and salted roe for Tk 3,000 to 4,000, yet buyers still cannot get as much as they want. Traders say prices have risen because supply is short.
The roe market is seasonal, with demand and supply both highest in July, August and September. This season, however, fewer roe-bearing hilsa have been caught. On 29 July hilsa roe sold for Tk 5,500 to 6,000 a kg at the Boro Station fish landing in Chandpur; traders say it was Tk 2,500 to 3,000 at the same time last year, so the price has nearly doubled in a year.
Online sales and promotion, alongside local markets, have also pushed up demand for hilsa roe across the country.
Russell Howlader, managing director of Fish Valley, said roe-bearing hilsa are usually more plentiful in September, but this year there are fewer than demand requires. Even with fish bought from several sourcing points, not every fish carries the same amount of roe, so enough cannot always be supplied.
Sohel Mahmud, director of Kuakata Maa Shutki Enterprise, said 10 to 15 pairs of salted roe usually make a kilogram. In the peak season his shop alone has demand for about two maunds, or 80 kg, of salted roe, but no more than 20 to 30 kg in all can be collected from fishers.
Photo: Gouriband / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Desh Rupantor
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