Floods blamed for another round of price like

Floods and inclement weather have pushed up prices of essentials in the city.

Prices of vegetables, eggs, fish and meat will go up further in the coming weeks because of floods, feared traders at the kitchen markets.

They attributed the price hike to the disruption in the chain of supply from flood-hit districts. Floods have already gripped more than 35 districts in the last two weeks.

But dishonest traders take advantage of the situation by increasing prices of many items like soybean oil, pulses, sugar and rice.

During a survey of vegetable prices at the kitchen markets at New Market, Hatirpool, Shantinagar and Karwan Bazar yesterday it was found that prices of most items marked rise despite adequate supply.

Patol was selling at Tk 16 a kilogram rising from Tk 10-12 last week. Papaya, which was the cheapest at Tk 6 a kg now sells at Tk 10 while prices of all kinds of aubergines rose by Tk 3-5 per kilogram.

Karola became pricey by Tk 4 and sells at Tk 20 and chichinga and barboti each marked rise by Tk 2 per kilogram and sell at Tk 14 and Tk 16 respectively.

All other items registered a similar rise except for green chilli, which still sells at Tk 20 a kilogram.

However, prices of onion, dry chilli, garlic and ginger remained stable.

Potato jumped to Tk 12 a kilogram from its earlier price of Tk 9.

Egg shot up to Tk 52-54 a dozen from Tk 45-48 in the last one week. Some traders reasoned the price hike to the flood situation while others attributed it to drop in supply of smuggled Indian eggs.

Fish became further dearer and went almost out of reach of the common buyer.

Ruhi (local) now sells at Tk 180 a kilogram, boal Tk 250, meni Tk 160, prawn (medium size) Tk 350-400, cat fish (local) Tk 400, kachki/batashi Tk 120-150 and koi (small 20 pieces) Tk 100-120. Despite its season, hilsha supply was not good and price still very high. A pair of medium size hilsha still sells at Tk 350-400.

Beef now sells at Tk 100 a kilogram and mutton Tk 180.

Farm chicken however still sells at Tk 72. But the traders warned that the prices may soon go up as the government has again banned indefinitely import of poultry items from six countries because of fresh outbreak of bird flu.

Price of soybean oil rose from Tk 52 to Tk 54-56 a litre for what the traders said 'fresh price hike in the international markets.' Sugar was selling at Tk 32 a kilogram 'for no reason' while all types of pulses rose by Tk 2-4. Cumin prices also shot up from Tk 120 to Tk 160-180.

Nazrirshail and menicate now sell between Tk 19 and Tk 22 a kg rising from Tk 18 and Tk 20 only a week ago. Paijam varieties sell between Tk 17 and Tk 20 while coarse rices Tk 14-15. Kataribhog and bashmoti are priced at Tk 35 and Tk 40 respectively.