Prices of spices declined last week giving some comforts to the consumers battered by rising costs of staple food rice and protein items.
Vegetables prices showed both upward and downward trends in the week when most of other essential items remained stable.
The prices of onion, garlic and ginger - the three main cooking ingredients - showed the downtrend at the city retail markets in the last seven days ending on Thursday.
Onion (local) was sold at Tk 25-35 per kilogram and the imported one at Tk 22-30 a kg on the day - Tk 5.0 decline in a week.
Garlic was sold at Tk 70-90 per kg on the day from Tk 80-100 a kg earlier.
Ginger witnessed a fall in its prices (Tk 20 decline) in one week and was selling at Tk 100-140 a kg.
Kamrul Islam Swapan, a spice wholesaler at Karwan Bazar, one of the main city markets, said import cost of onion dropped to just Tk 6.0-8.0 a kg thanks to a massive decline in prices in neighbouring country India.
He said local onion farmers were also selling the spice at Tk 15-17 a kg in Faridpur, Pabna, Natore, Kushtia districts and elsewhere in the country.
"We are selling local onion at Tk 22-24 a kg while imported one at Tk 18-22 a kg based on quality", he said.
Narayan Chandra Saha, a Shyambazar-based importer, said the onion market will remain static for the next few months amid good domestic production and low import costs.
He said garlic import cost is still higher but local produce has started hitting the market which helped easing the price of the item.
But ginger will remain pricier (above Tk 100 a kg) amid decline in local production and high import costs, he added.
Prices of cauliflower, cabbage, brinjal and green chilli witnessed a hike while carrot, radish, papaya, onion plant, coriander leaf and other leafy items and tomato showed a decline in the week, according to Dhaka kitchen market sources.
