Prices of egg increased further in the city this week, hitting a three-year high, according to traders.
The kitchen markets also saw supply of some early winter vegetables, but their prices are too high.
Hilsa, which became cheaper to some extent at the beginning of the week due to huge supply, saw its prices increasing on Thursday.
In the city's retail markets, the prices of egg soared to Tk 38 from Tk 34 per four pieces in the last week.
Rahman Ali, a grocer at Nurjahan Road, Mahammadpur, said he bought farm eggs at Tk 850 per 100 pieces on Wednesday from Tejgaon market, up from Tk 775-Tk 780 a week ago.
The current price is at a three-year high, he said, adding that the price is gradually increasing from August.
Explaining the reasons behind the price hike, Tahir Ahmed, president of the Bangladesh Egg Producers' Association (BEPA), told the FE that more than 15,000 poultry farmers have shut down their farms after incurring huge losses last year.
Rising prices of poultry feed and medicine, hike in electricity tariff and downtrend of egg prices forced the poultry farmers to wind down their production, he said.
The prices of egg declined to a nine-year-low in 2017 to just Tk 4.0-4.5 a piece at the farm level against the production cost of Tk 6.0, he said.
The production of egg might decline by 15-20 per cent this year against the annual production of 12 billion pieces, he added.
Presently, egg is trading at Tk 6.8-Tk 7.0 a piece at farm level across the country, according to the BEPA.
Apart from eggs, early winter veggies like cauliflower, cabbage, radish and bean are also selling at high prices in the markets.
A small-sized cauliflower or cabbage was selling at Tk 50-Tk 60 a piece on Thursday, and bean at Tk 90-Tk 110 a kg.
Hilsa prices also started rising from Thursday as the government has slapped a ban on hilsa fishing from October 7 to October 28 for ensuring smooth breeding of the fish.
Hilsa weighing over 1000 gm sold at Tk 1000-Tk 1350 per piece while hilsa of 850gm -900gm at Tk 600-Tk 700, and of 600 gm-800 gm at Tk 300-Tk 500 per piece -- an increase of Tk 80 to Tk 100.
Hilsa of smaller size (below 500 gm) sold at Tk 550-Tk 600 a kg on Thursday, registering a hike of Tk 50.
