Rice, Onion, Potato Prices Up, Vegetables Down

The price of rice, which has been on the rise for the past two weeks, further witnessed a surge last week by Tk 2.0-4.0 a kg even amid adequate supplies. The hike mainly impacts finer and medium rice varieties, said by the salesman of different stores at Dhanmondi. Finer varieties like Miniket, Najirshail and Jeera, and medium varieties like BRRI-28, Swarna-05 and Paijam witnessed a Tk 2.5-3.0 hike per kg at Mohammadpur Krishi Market in a week.

According to seller now retailing Miniket at Tk 74-76 a kilo and Najirshail at Tk 78-80, while the retail price of BRRI-28 rice is Tk 65-66. On the other hand the price of onion, which momentarily dropped to Tk 45-55 a kg in mid-March, shot up by nearly Tk 10 within a week to Tk 55-65 a kg.

Insiders attributed this hike to the hoarding of onion vastly by district-level traders in the meantime. Potato prices also witnessed a fresh hike on Friday, hours after the Bangladesh Cold Storage Association (BCSA) announced a possible surge in the price of the crop amid production plunge.

The BCSA president at a meeting on Thursday said consumers will have to buy potato at above Tk 50 a kg this year amid a 20-per cent possible drop in production for odd climate. With the latest announcement, the potato price showed a fresh hike of Tk 3.0-4.0 a kg both at wholesale and retail levels, said Junaid Sawdagar, a vegetable trader at Rayerbazar. However, as Ramadan has passed nearly two and a half weeks, the vegetable market sees a decline, giving some respite to consumers.

Visiting different vegetable markets by the FE revealed a notable drop in prices compared to previous weeks. Brinjal, which sold at Tk 90-120 a kg at the beginning of Ramadan, was found retailing at Tk 50-60 on Friday. Cucumber, which was previously exceeding Tk 100, was available at Tk 50-60 a kg. Lemon price eased to Tk 30-50 per hali (four pieces) from Tk 60-80 two weeks back.

Other vegetables also showed a Tk 5.0-10 decline a kg in a week, according to traders. Prices of summer vegetables like pointed gourd, snake gourd, long-yard (asparagus bean) and bitter gourd beans dropped slightly, yet they retailed at Tk 70-90 a kg.