Prices of vegetables and lentils witnessed a remarkable hike last week as tomatoes hit maximum Tk 240 a kg on Friday.
Tomato witnessed almost 70 per cent hike in a week also at the wholesale, Monohor Das, a vendor at Rayerbazar Khelarmath area in the city, said.
Tomato was retailing at Tk220-240 a kg, he added.
Cucumber price increased by Tk8.0-10 to Tk62-68 a kg at the wholesale and they were selling it at Tk70-80 a kg.
Meanwhile, vegetable sellers were retailing brinjal at Tk70-90 and green chilli at Tk120-140 a kg on Friday.
Summer vegetables like pointed gourd, ridge gourd, sponge gourd, snake gourd, bitter gourd, colocasia stem and long-yard bean were retailing at Tk50-80 a kg---Tk 5.0-10 hike a kg in a week.
Papaya was the cheapest vegetable sold at Tk40-50 a kg on the day, said traders.
Jamal Uddin, a vegetable wholesaler at Sadeq Khan Krishi Market in Beribadh-Rayerbazar, said the supply of local and imported tomato varieties declined notably amid floods in both India and Bangladesh.
He said tomato is hardly grown in summer while only a little amount could be stored from the winter harvest.
Import is the key option to meet the demand for tomatoes and carrots the rest of the year, he added.
Import cost of tomato surged to Tk170-180 a kg in recent weeks, he said, adding despite such high offer, supply of the vegetable is still less.
He said floods in some vegetable and chilli-growing districts like Bogura, Jamalpur, Rangpur, Kurigram, and Nilphamari have caused the surge in prices of other vegetables too.
Meanwhile, prices of coarse and medium variety lentils witnessed Tk10-15 a kg further hike battering the commoners.
Coarse variety lentil was retailed at Tk110-115 and medium variety at 120-125 a kg.
Finer lentil remained static at its previous high of Tk140-150 a kg.
However, rice price remained static at its previous highs of Tk52-96 a kg despite the fact that the government reduced the import duty.
Coarse rice retailed at Tk52-54, medium at Tk60-64 and finer at Tk70-96 a kg in the city groceries.
