Prices of imported garlic have surged in the last three days, hitting the pocket of consumers.
A rise in the import cost has led to the price hike, traders said.
According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), price of the imported garlic increased by 17 per cent in the last three days.
On Friday, imported garlic (Chinese) was selling at Tk 120-Tk 160 a kg on the retail market. Earlier, the price ranged between Tk 100 and Tk 120.
Local variety of garlic, however, remained static at Tk 80-Tk 100 a kg.
Md Sariful Hasan, a grocer at Zakir Hossain Road in Mohammadpur, said garlic prices increased by Tk 20-Tk 22 a kg at Shyambazar and Karwan Bazar wholesale markets in the last few days.
"I bought imported garlic at Tk 4420 a maund (37.32 kg) at Shyambazar on Friday morning, which was Tk 3650 on Wednesday," he said.
Azizur Raman, a spice wholesaler at Karwanbazar, said the demand for spices increased significantly recently due to the surge in import costs.
He said there was also a supply shortage for the last few days due to the delay in unloading of imported spices at Chittagong port.
The importers raised the price by Tk 300 to Tk 360 per maund, he said.
Narayan Chandra Saha, a spice trader at Shyambazar in the city, said import costs are also on the rise, as China, the biggest exporter in the world, has raised prices.
Import cost rose to $960-$1020 a tonne last month from $750-$800 a tonne, he added.
"But there is no shortage of supply, as local garlic is available on the wholesale market, selling at Tk 60-Tk 70 a kg," he said.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) and the Ministry of Commerce, local production of garlic was 0.35 million tonnes in 2017 against a demand for 0.6 million tonnes.
The demand was met by import, mostly from China and India.
The country spent Tk 18.5 billion importing garlic in the last fiscal year (FY '17), the official data shows.
