Prices of essential cooking ingredients, including spices, vegetables, potatoes, sugar, fish and pulses, witnessed significant increase in the last one month.
During this period, the price of onions saw a staggering 100% surge, reaching Tk80-90 per kilogram in retail outlets.
Additionally, the prices of ginger and cumin seed reached an all-time high.
Various ginger varieties, including Indian, Burmese, and the local ones, sold at Tk300-340 per kg, and the Chinese variety at Tk450-460.
Cumin seed (Jeera) retailed at Tk950-1,000 per kilogram.
Large companies were trading packed cumin powder at up to Tk1,150 per kilogram.
Potato prices witnessed an average increase of 42% with a retail price of Tk40-45 per kilogram on Tuesday.
The government set sugar price at Tk120-125 a kg, but sugar rose in price from Tk130-140 before Eid-ul-Fitr to Tk140-150 after the festival, according to trading sources.
The price of finer lentils reached Tk140-150 per kilogram last week.
Vegetables such as pointed gourd, tomato and carrot also experienced a notable hike in prices, with carrot selling at Tk90-110 and pointed gourd at Tk70-90, depending on quality.
Agriculture minister Dr Muhammad Abdur Razzaque attributed the surge in onion prices to a syndicate.
He said Bangladesh produced more than 3.4 million tonnes of onion, and the harvest season has recently concluded, making it implausible for prices to increase by such a large margin.
A syndicate of unscrupulous traders is responsible for the surge in onion prices, he continued.
The ministry will monitor the situation for a few more days before making a decision on onion imports, according to Dr Razzaque.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi also recently acknowledged that onion and sugar markets went beyond the government's control.
Nazer Hossain, vice-president of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), stressed the need for immediate action from the commerce minister and other relevant ministries against wrongdoers.
He stated that the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission recently sent a letter to the Commerce Ministry, detailing the active involvement of refiners in manipulating the sugar market.
Strict actions should be taken against such manipulators as per law to restore a sense of check and balance in the market.
