Prices of vegetables in the city markets have started cooling down as supplies of freshly harvested winter crops increased notably from the key growing hubs, said traders and consumers.
Some vegetables, however, remained on the higher side due to their off-season.
Cauliflower and cabbage that used to cost Tk 40-50 per piece dropped to Tk 25- 35 last week while local beans dropped sharply by 40-50 per cent to Tk 40-50 per kg.
Bottle gourd price also decreased by 30-40 per cent and costs Tk 25-40 per piece at the city retail markets on Thursday.
Meanwhile, prices of vegetables showed 40-80 per cent decline in Mahasthan, Bogra, the biggest vegetable hub of the country, according to the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM).
DAM data showed the prices also witnessed a decline by 30-50 per cent in Manikganj, Narshingdi, Mymensingh and Jashore commodity wholesale markets in last seven days.
Prices of winter vegetables like local bean, long bean, cauliflower, cabbage, radish, bitter gourd, winter brinjal, coriander leaf and bottle gourd declined due to rise in supplies, said T M Rashed Khan, assistant director at DAM.
He said cabbage was selling at Tk 6.0-8.0 per piece, cauliflower Tk 10-12 per piece, local bean Tk 14-16 per kg, brinjal Tk 24-26 per kg, bottle gourd Tk 12-15 per piece and bitter gourd Tk 25-27 a kg at Mahasthan on Wednesday.
He said the production is likely to increase notably this year as the farmers last year got good prices.
The Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) Director General Amitav Das told the FE that they were expecting 11.4 million tonnes of vegetables during this winter season (Rabi season).
He said that some 0.55 million hectares of land came under farming this year which is 5 per cent more than that of the last year.
He said the production of winter vegetables was 11 million tonnes in the last Rabi cropping season (October 15 to February 15).
However, prices of off-season vegetables like snake gourd, sponge gourd and ridge gourd remained high at Tk 40-60 a kg at the city retail markets.
The price of the early variety of potatoes showed a slight decline, but still remained as high as Tk 90-120 a kg.
Carrot and tomato, two winter crops, were yet to be cheaper as stored and imported ones were still dominating the market.
Imran Ali Master, a Karwan Bazar-based trader in the city, said local green tomato has entered the market in a lesser volume but matured crop is yet to hit the market.
He said stored tomato was selling at Tk 52-60 a kg at Karwan Bazar on Thursday which was retailing at Tk 70-80 a kg earlier.
He said local tomato and carrot will enter the market within next two weeks when the price would be eased.
