Fish, vegetables and many grocery items were rare in the city markets on Friday, the weekend just after the three-day Eid-ul-Azha holidays, as most vendors did not turn up.
Cashing in on this situation, some traders charged high prices for the items available, consumers claimed.
However, transaction in the kitchen markets remained insignificant amid thin presence of customers and sellers, this correspondent has found while visiting some markets.
Traders said it would take a couple of days for the markets to become normal.
At Rayer Bazar kitchen market, this correspondent found only a few vendors selling vegetables at Tk 50-Tk 80 a kg, up from Tk 40-Tk 60 a kg before the Eid holidays.
The vendors were selling only papaya, snake gourd, pointed gourd and brinjal.
Murtaza Hasan Lodi, an official at a private hospital, told the FE that he stocked up on vegetables before Eid for the vacation.
But as the stock got exhausted, he came to market on Friday to buy some, he said.
He said few shops were open, but fish and vegetable vendors were charging high prices.
Small-sized shrimps were selling at Tk 650-Tk 700 a kg, which was Tk 450-Tk 500 a kg before Eid, he said.
Pointed gourd was selling at Tk 70 a kg, up from Tk 45-Tk 50 a kg on Tuesday, he added.
"We are also facing difficulties in getting grocery items, as many shops still remained closed," he said.
Abdur Rouf, a vegetable vendor at Banalata Kitchen Market under New Market, said the prices of vegetables have increased significantly due to short supply.
He said only two wholesale markets remained open at Karwanbazar on Friday.
The Karwanbazar wholesale markets had also witnessed small transactions amid thin presence of both sellers and customers.
Other wholesale markets, including Shyambazar, Moulavibazar, Jatrabari, in the city remained closed on Friday.
President of Bangladesh Vegetable Wholesalers Association Md Imran Master said transactions at Karwanbazar in the last three days were less than 2.0 per cent of the transactions seen in normal days.
Most of the traders who went to their district homes during Eid vacation are yet to return to the capital, he said.
He said normalcy would return to both the wholesale and retail markets after a couple of days.
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