Hilsa sale drops on New Year's eve

The sale of hilsa dropped significantly at the capital's retail markets the day before Pahela Baishakh.

Though the fish traders said they have enough supply, customers are not buying the fish. As a result, they are incurring losses, they added. Usually, the price of hilsa is much higher compared to other fish during this month as people buy this particular fish for celebrating the Bangla New Year with fried hilsa and “panta bhat” (rice soaked in water). However, the trend seems to be changing as a small number of customers were buying the fish marking the first day of the Bangla calendar, said the traders.

While visiting the markets in Mirpur and Karwan Bazar yesterday, it was seen that city dwellers were buying the fish in less quantity. In addition, fish traders said they usually supply hilsa at different restaurants as the demand rises during the celebrations. But this year, they could not sell much. So, the price fell.

“Since the last couple of years, the demand for hilsa, during Pahela Baishakh, is on the wane,” said Sukkur Ali, who has been selling the fish in Karwan Bazar market for 32 years.

“Before I used to sell hilsa to small traders who would open up makeshift hotels on the day and sell panta-ilish,” he added. “Now, their number has also dwindled.”

To compensate their losses, some of the traders were seen selling the fish at its purchase price. They also claimed that the supply was much higher than the previous year.

“I am selling an 800-gram hilsa at Tk 700, which is its purchase price,” said Jibon Das at Karwan Bazar market. He said he has been selling fish there for 35 years.

He said till 5:00pm, he could sell 30 fish out of 120. “The price declined gradually. In morning, I sold the same size fish for Tk 800. It was Tk 750 around noon, then Tk 700 in the afternoon.”

Even after the price drop, there were only a handful of customers at the market.

Hearing about the fall in price, Mohammed Younus, a grocer, came to the market to buy hilsa.

“Usually the price is high before Pahela Baishakh. But now I'm able to buy the fish at a cheaper price,” he told this correspondent while bargaining with a trader.

Mentionable, in 2016, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina decided to strike hilsa off the menu at her official residence, Gono Bhaban, in an effort to discourage people from having jatka (hilsa fry) on Pahela Baishakh.

“By dropping hilsa from her menu on Pahela Baishakh, the prime minister has discouraged people from having jatka on the first day of Bangla New Year,” Ihsanul Karim, press secretary to the PM, had told The Daily Star.