CropsBarry Callebaut's Asia Pacific cocoa chief Angela Gubser says volatility will persist, high prices have not always reached farmers, and cocoa in Indonesia now competes with durian, rice and oil palm.
Daily lifeA bun that cost Tk 10 six months ago now costs Tk 15 and loitta fish has doubled to Tk 300; an elderly Chattogram hawker lives on buns and water, and a driver is sending his family back to the village.
Bottled soybean oil remains scarce in Dhaka even after a price rise, while atta and flour prices have climbed and bakers say their products will cost up to 20 per cent more.
State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock Sultan Salahuddin Tuku has called for higher poultry output so that egg and chicken prices stay within people's reach while farmers get fair prices.
The government has granted a conditional duty and tax waiver on green chilli and tomato imports for 60 days to steady supply and prices.
Companies have cut the supply of bottled edible oil in Dhaka's markets while loose oil, sugar and flour prices climb and vegetables, fish, meat and eggs stay expensive.
Green chilli prices have fallen from last week in Dhaka's retail markets, but eggs, vegetables and other essentials remain expensive, giving shoppers little relief.
Almost every vegetable in Dhaka's kitchen markets now sells for close to Tk 100 a kg, squeezing low- and middle-income families who had turned to vegetables because fish and meat were already out of reach.
In Bogura, lychees are increasingly sold by the kilo rather than by the hundred, dividing buyers and prompting calls for transparency.
Fruit prices in Rajshahi have risen by Tk 20 to Tk 50 a kg in 10 days, and buyers are leaving shops empty-handed despite Ramadan.
AgribusinessGreen chilli fell from Tk 140 to Tk 90 a kilogram and broiler chicken from Tk 180 to Tk 170 at Mechhua Bazar in Mymensingh on 26 February 2026, a week into Ramadan, buyers and sellers told Jagonews24.
FruitsThe price of Zahedi dates rose at Chattogram's Fruitmandi market in February 2026; traders blamed a Bangladesh-bound container ship that sank off Phuket, while most other dates were cheaper than a year earlier.
The Economist Intelligence Unit expects global food prices to keep easing in 2026, led by rice, while labour, aid and environmental rules bring new challenges.
