With the month of Ramadan only a day or two away, prices of onion, aubergine, ginger, green chilli, sugar and milk that are used in preparing 'iftar' items have already marked a rise in kitchen markets in the capital.
Demand for these goods increased significantly in the last few days, and traders say it would to go up further during Ramadan with the upward trend in their prices continuing throughout the month.
Prices of some other popular iftar-related items like puffed rice, gram and 'bason' (powdered pulses), already very high, remained stable till yesterday.
Meanwhile, prices of rice and edible oil came down in the city markets over the last one week.
Both local variety and imported onion saw a price rise of Tk 3-5 per kg in retail markets in the last four days.
Local variety of onion was selling at Tk 30-35 a kg yesterday as against Tk 30-33 and imported onion at Tk 23-27 per kg compared to Tk 20-24 four days ago.
Prices of onion usually go up on the eve of and during Ramadan every year due to its high demand, said onion traders at Karwan Bazar, a major kitchen market in the capital.
Aubergine, used as a popular iftar item, sold for Tk 30-40 per kg yesterday while the price was Tk 22-30 a kg four days ago.
Green chilli sold for Tk 60-70 a kg yesterday compared to Tk 50-60 four days ago.
Price of ginger rose by Tk 10 per kg. Both local variety and imported ginger was selling for Tk 80-90 a kg yesterday, rising from Tk 70-80.
Price of sugar rose by Tk 3-5 per kg in the last four days, and it was selling for Tk 37-38 a kg yesterday as against Tk 33-34 four days back.
In wholesale markets, its price rose by Tk 120-140 per sack (50 kg).
A grocer at Karwan Bazar said he purchased a sack of sugar for Tk 1,730 yesterday while he had purchased it at Tk 1,590 four days ago.
Liquid milk of different brands also saw a price rise. It was selling for Tk 48-50 a litre yesterday against Tk 45 four days back.
Puffed rice sold for Tk 48-80 a kg, gram for Tk 55-60 and bason for Tk 65-90 yesterday, showing no price rise.
Price of almost all varieties of rice however dropped by Tk 1-2 per kg in retail markets.
Coarse rice was selling for Tk 31-33 a kg yesterday. Four days ago, it sold for Tk 32-33 per kg.
Prices of parija and BR-28 -- medium variety rice-- came to Tk 35-37 per kg yesterday against Tk 36-38 four days ago. Miniket, a fine variety rice, was selling for Tk 40-43 a kg yesterday.
Prices of non-brand edible oil dropped by Tk 4-5 per litre in the last two days.
Palm oil and super palm oil were selling for Tk 86-95 a litre yesterday while soybean oil sold for Tk 108-110 a litre.
Traders mentioned that fall of rice and edible oil prices in the global market contributed to their price fall in local markets.