Soaring prices of essentials hit consumers hard

Aminul Islam, an employee of a private company, was locked in a heated argument over vegetable prices with a trader at Mirpur-6 kitchen market in the capital. When approached, he said price of every essential has skyrocketed and businessmen are responsible for this situation.

“It has become difficult for consumers to buy vegetables due to high prices. The price of eggs, meat and fish increased earlier. The prices of essentials are increasing every week. Traders are responsible for the abnormal price hike,” he said.

While visiting different kitchen markets in the capital on Friday, this correspondent found a similar scene.

Frequent hikes in the prices of daily essentials are making it difficult for the middle- and low-income people to maintain their expenses. The prices of most winter vegetables have gone up further this week at the kitchen markets in the capital.

Traders claimed that most vegetables have been damaged by cyclone Sitrang, so the supply has come down. A supply crunch has increased vegetable prices, said Sumon, a vegetable trader at Mirpur-6 kitchen market.

The price of pointed gourd has increased to Tk 70 per kg from Tk 60 per kg in a week, cabbage and cauliflower price to TK 60 per piece from Tk 50 per piece, tomato priceee to Tk 150-160 per kg from Tk 140 per kg, bitter gourd price to Tk 90 per kg from Tk 80 per kg, green papaya price to Tk 50 per kg from Tk 40 per kg, and green chilli price to Tk 100 per kg from Tk 70-80 per kg.

Yardlong bean was sold at the previous high price of Tk 80 per kg, guard was Tk 60-70, cucumber was Tk 80-90 per kg, brinjal was Tk 90-130 per kg, carrot was Tk 140-150 per kg and bean was Tk 100-120 per kg, sponge gourd was Tk 60 per kg and snake gourd was Tk 70 per kg.

Loose sugar was sold at Tk 105 to 110 per kg, packet sugar was Tk 115-120 per kg and local onion was sold at Tk 50-60 per kg and potato was sold at TK 30-40 per kg.
The government has fixed packaged sugar prices at Tk 95 per kg and loose sugar prices at Tk 90 per kg earlier.

The price of Sonali chicken remained previous high of Tk 320 per kg and layer chicken price remained at the previous high of Tk 290-300 per kg. The price of broiler chicken has increased to Tk 190 per kg from Tk 180 per kg in a week, said Mohammad Shahin of Padma broiler at Mohammadpur Kitchen market.

The prices of farm eggs were Tk 140-145 per dozen while duck egg price was 195-200 per dozen. Beef price was Tk 680-700 per kg and mutton was Tk 850-900 per kg.