Prices of essentials in the market have already gone up and it will go through the roof if the present political unrest prevails, traders and retailers have said.
The businessmen said normally, in winter season, prices of vegetables fell, but this time it was an exception that the prices were getting to be exorbitant gradually.
The traders attribute continuous blockade and hartal to the rise in commodities’ price.
“We will not be able to rein in price for too long time if the volatile political situation persists. The supply of vegetables is already lower than expected in this season,” a retailer Amirul Islam at the Karwan Bazar kitchen market told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
The back-to-back blockade on road, railway and waterways began on November 26. Hartals over Jamaat leader Quader Molla’s execution added salt to people’s suffering in this period.
“People consume more when essentials are cheaper but they tend to buy less when prices go up,” Amirul said, expressing disappointment over the sale of goods.
He also said they had been carrying needful commodities at night amid strikes but blockade forced them to stop doing so this time round.
A recent survey of the city’s different kitchen markets reveals that vegetables and fish prices are up by Tk5-Tk10 and Tk20-Tk30 per kg respectively.
But prices of chicken, mutton, beef and bottled edible oil of different brands maintained the earlier trend.
Vegetables are brought to the city’s kitchen markets from the remote districts of Jamalpur, Tangail, Narsingdi, Comilla, Gazipur and Munshiganj.
For paying high freight cost, the traders charge extra in Dhaka’s kitchen markets, said Abdul Halim, another trader at Karwan Bazar.
“The extra charges of transportation hike the price of essentials, especially kitchen items,” he said.
“It has become very difficult to budget the household expenditure as prices of almost everything are rising whereas my earning remains the same,” said Sonia Begum, a schoolteacher who lives in Mohammadpur.
Md Kamrul, a vegetable trader at Mohammadpur Town Hall Market, blamed the price hike on the short supply of vegetables because of continuous blockade.
“Vegetables prices increase by Tk5 to Tk10 during this period, he said, adding that they do not have any choice but to observe the blockade in silence,” kamrul claimed.
Onions, a key-cooking ingredient, were selling at Tk90-Tk100 a kg in Town Hall Market.
Broiler chicken was selling at between Tk165 and Tk170 per kg on Friday while beef Tk275-Tk280 and mutton Tk420-Tk450.
Ginger’s price ranged between Tk100 and Tk120 a kg while that of Garlic Tk100-Tk140.
Brinjal was being sold at Tk40, ladies finger Tk40, bitter gourd Tk70-Tk80 and green papaya Tk30-Tk35.
The green chili was retailing at Tk50-Tk60 while tomato Tk60-Tk70 a kg.
A pair of medium-size hilsha was selling at Tk800-Tk1,000, ruhi Tk250-Tk300 per kg, katla Tk250-Tk280 per kg, tengra Tk350-Tk450 per kg, pangas Tk110-Tk120 per kg and tilapia at Tk130-Tk150 per kg.
“Everyone understands that the prices are going up for volatile political situation and we are going to face a crisis over the supply which will need time to recover,” Consumers Association of Bangladesh General Secretary Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan told the Dhaka tribune.
