Kitchen commodities and stuff, including chicken, ginger, green chilli and garlic, have become pricier further in a week, adding woes to the commoners.
However, tomato and onion prices dropped amid a surge in supply. But edible oil and sugar were still selling at much higher than state-fixed rates, said consumers.
Broiler chicken was sold at Tk 155-165 a kg on Thursday, marking a Tk 10 hike in a week.
Pakistani and Sonali chicken prices also witnessed a Tk 20 spike as sold at Tk 270-290 a kg on the day.
Indigenous chicken, however, remained static at its previous high of Tk 450-500 a kg.
Heavy cold and fog in poultry hubs have caused a fall in production to some extent in the past seven days, said Kamal Sharif, a farm owner at Tarash, Sirajganj.
He said feed prices have gradually been increasing for the last one-and-a-half years.
Mr Sharif said broiler feed per kg has increased to Tk 55 registering a Tk 20-25 hike during the period.
Production costs have surged to a minimum of Tk 140 a kg amid higher feed prices, he added.
Prices of spicy stuff like garlic and ginger have increased by Tk 20 a kg further in a week.
Imported garlic was sold at Tk 140-160 and imported ginger at Tk 150-170 a kg on Thursday.
Local ginger was sold at Tk 130-140 a kg, according to kitchen market sources.
Green chilli has gone through the roof as it cost Tk 100 a kg from Tk 70-80 earlier.
Lokman Hakim, a spice trader at Rayerbazar-Beribandh, sees no signs of a decline in prices even if it is a ginger-harvesting period.
He said traders in Shyambazar in Dhaka, Chattogram Hill Track and Rangpur are charging much higher than that at farm level, resulting in high retail prices.
He urged the government agency concerned to monitor the ginger market to minimise a huge price gap between farm level and city wholesale.
"City retailers, especially grocers, also make exorbitant profits from both garlic and ginger," Mr Hakim mentioned.
Meanwhile, branded bottled soybean oil was still selling at Tk 190-192 per litre in Dhaka city in violation of the government's direction.
Half-litre soybean bottle was retailing at Tk 100-105 while loose soybean oil at Tk 176-180 a litre. Super palm retailed at Tk 145-150 a litre the same day.
The government reduced maximum retail prices (MRP) of soybean and palm oil by Tk 4.0-5.0 a litre from December 18 in line with the global market.
A commerce ministry notification said soybean oil per one-kg bottle would be Tk 187, loose soybean at Tk 167 and super palm per litre at Tk 117.
Sugar also trod the same path as oil as it was selling at Tk 120 a kg against the government-fixed MRP of Tk 102 (loose)-108 (packet).
However, tomato supply has helped ease prices to Tk 40-50 a kg, according to traders.
Again, the newly harvested seed onion (known as murikata) hit the market, causing a decline in prices.
Murikata onion retailed at Tk 32-36 a kg depending on size and quality. Old local onion became rare and it was sold at Tk 50-55 a kg in many shops.
