Trading of Hilsa started in the city after ending the fishing ban, but was selling at much higher prices on Thursday than that of the pre-ban market.
The price was 30-40 per cent higher on Thursday than that of the pre-ban market.
The fishing ban in sanctuaries of 31 districts under the government's Hisla conservation programme started on October 7 and ended on October 28. The fish began to hit the city markets from October 29.
However, the prices of winter vegetables showed a declining trend at the end of the week, but still much higher than the expected level, consumers alleged.
Medium-sized Hilsa weighing 700-850 gm was selling at Tk 650-800 a piece on Thursday which was Tk 400-600 in the first week of October last.
Small ones of the fish (below 600 gm) were traded at Tk 650- 800 a kilogram in different markets-30 per cent higher than that of the pre-ban period, according to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).
The bigger ones (above 900 gm) of Hilsa sold at Tk 1,250-2,000 a piece at Bangladesh Fish Development Corporation (BFDC)-run covered vans in the city - a 40 per cent hike in a month.
The TCB data, however, showed that the fish is 25 per cent pricier now than that of a year ago.
Jatrabari Matsha Aratdar Bahumukhi Shamabay Samity Ltd. Chairman Abu Bakkar Siddique said the fishermen were getting lesser amount of Hilsa in the key fishing hubs of Chattogram and Barisal regions after the ban, causing the price hike.
They bought medium-sized Hilsa at Tk 56,000-60,000 a quintal (100 kgs) from the traders at Patharghata and Barguna which were Tk 44,000- 48,000 in the first week of October.
Yunus Farazi, a fisherman-cum-trader at Kolapara, Patuakhali, told the FE over cellphone that much lesser number of Hilsa is being netted for the last three days in Patuakhali and Barguna districts, much to the grievance of fishermen and traders.
He appreciated that fishermen got a plenty of fish in the pre-ban period which helped deliver the fish at much lower rates.
"The low-priced Hilsa season has ended for now and people will have to pay high for the fish until next rainy season," said Mr Farazi, also President of Kolapara Khudro Matshajibi Samity, an association of small scale fishermen in Kolapara.
Hilsa collection was a record 0.5 million tonnes in the last financial year (FY'18). The silver fish was nearly 13 per cent of the total fish production in the country, according to the Department of Fisheries (DoF).
Meanwhile, cabbages and cauliflowers were selling at Tk 35-50 a piece, bottle gourd Tk 50-80 a piece, carrots Tk 90-110 a kg, local beans at Tk 70-90 a kg, leafy veggies Tk 10-25 a bunch on Thursday. The prices declined at a range between Tk 5 and Tk 15 in a week.
But the consumers at different kitchen markets in the city claimed the prices were still much higher than that of a year back.
