The price of green chillies has gone up in Rangpur's markets within a week, along with Pakistani chicken and some vegetables. Fish, meat, eggs, rice, lentils and oil are unchanged.

A visit to various markets in Rangpur city on Tuesday (21 February) found broiler chicken selling at the retail level at Tk 210-220 a kg, the same as last week, while Pakistani chicken rose from Tk 290-300 to Tk 310-320 and local chicken stayed at Tk 460-470 a kg. Poultry eggs were selling at Tk 44-45 a hali (four).

City Bazar chicken seller Mohsin Ali said: "I see no chance of chicken prices coming down for now. Ramadan is coming, and demand for chicken always rises in that month. If supply is short of demand, prices won't fall."

There is no good news on beef either: it is selling at Tk 670-700 a kg, as last week, and goat meat at Tk 800-900 a kg.

In the vegetable market, tomatoes were Tk 25-30 a kg as last week, carrots Tk 25-30, cucumbers Tk 25-30, thin aubergines up from Tk 20-25 to Tk 35-40, round aubergines up from Tk 35-40 to Tk 45-50, papaya unchanged at Tk 15-20, bitter gourd Tk 60-70, lemons Tk 15-20 a hali, green chillies up from Tk 110-120 to Tk 130-140, and dried chillies unchanged at Tk 450-500. Bottle gourds were Tk 40-50 each, coriander leaves Tk 35-40 a kg, green bananas Tk 25-30 a hali, sweet pumpkin Tk 30-35 a kg, beans up from Tk 25-30 to Tk 35-40, radish unchanged at Tk 15-20, and cabbage and cauliflower Tk 10-15 each.

Ginger was unchanged at Tk 110-120 a kg, and bunches of all kinds of leafy greens were Tk 10-15. Newly arrived local drumsticks were selling at Tk 190-200 a kg, sweet potatoes at Tk 35-40, pointed gourd down from Tk 90-100 to Tk 80-90 and peas down from Tk 50-60 to Tk 40-45.

New Cardinal potatoes fell slightly from last week to Tk 16-18 a kg at retail, Shil and Jhau potatoes were Tk 30-35, and Granula (white) potatoes fell from Tk 16-18 to Tk 12-15. Local onions were selling at Tk 30 a kg this week.

Bhuttu Mia, a vegetable seller at Mulatol Amtola market, said prices of new vegetables arriving in the market were sky-high, and prices were also rising as the supply of winter vegetables fell.

One-litre bottled soybean oil was Tk 187, two litres Tk 374, and loose soybean oil Tk 160-190.

In the rice market, Swarna rice was Tk 50-52 a kg as last week, Paijam Tk 54-55, BR28 Tk 60-65, Miniket Tk 75-78 and Nazirshail Tk 85.

Loose sugar was unchanged at Tk 115-120 a kg. Packaged atta was Tk 68-70 and loose atta Tk 58-60, chickpeas Tk 95-100 and packaged maida Tk 78-80. Masur lentils (medium) were unchanged at Tk 110-120 a kg, fine masur Tk 130-140, mung Tk 140-150 and chickpea dal Tk 90-100.

In the fish market, depending on size, rui sold at Tk 250-300 a kg, mrigel Tk 220-250, pangas Tk 150-160, tilapia Tk 140-160, catla Tk 400-450, bata Tk 160-180, shing Tk 300-400, silver carp Tk 150-250 and gochi Tk 600-650.

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