Various cooking spices saw a sudden surge in its prices, despite Eid-ul-Azha being nearly four weeks away.
Ginger, dried chilies and turmeric were among the most sought after spices in the capital's commodity markets.
Prices of ginger, both local and imported, saw a substantial spike as much as Tk200 per kilogram.
Imported ginger sold on Sunday from Tk160-170 per kg, which was Tk120-150 per kg even on Friday. Local ginger sold on Sunday at Tk140-150 per kg.
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Visiting several kitchen markets on Monday, including Karwan Bazar, Shantinagar and New Market, spice prices saw an upward surge, but traders shifted the blame on the upcoming demand surge for Eid-ul-Azha.
When pointed out that the second largest religious festival for Muslims was four weeks away, they said that supply of ginger, especially the imported varieties, was short due to Covid-19.
Besides ginger, the prices of turmeric also went up. Although the price of imported turmeric has not increased, the price of local turmeric has increased by Tk20 per kg.
On Monday, the market sold Tk 160-220 per kg of domestic turmeric and Tk 140-180 per kg of imported turmeric, while the price of imported dried chilies declined but the price of imported chilies increased.
Domestic dried chilies were seen selling at Tk170 to 200 per kg, down Tk10 per kg in the market yesterday. And imported dried chilies are sold at Tk240-280 per kg with an increase of Tk 20.
Coriander prices are rising at about the same rate and sold at Tk130-150 per kg.
Cardamom has increased by Tk50 per kg from Tk2,200-3,500 per kg, depending on its quality.
In addition, the price of imported garlic increased by Tk20 per kg and onion by Tk5 per kg in the previous week. Last week, the price of freshly imported onions went up by another Tk5 per kg.
As a result, domestic and imported onions are currently being bought at Tk45-50. Now imported garlic is being sold at Tk120-140 and domestic garlic is being sold at Tk70-80.
According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), the price of imported onions has gone up by 19% and domestic onions by 12% in the last one month.
At the same time the price of all types of garlic has increased by 4-6%. The price of turmeric has increased by 9% and the price of ginger by 21-25%. The price of clove has gone up by 15% from Tk1,000 to Tk 1,100 per kg. Coriander prices rose 8%.
Prices of bay leaves have increased by Tk30% and are being sold at Tk150-180.
