Garlic prices have risen sharply over the last seven days, burning a hole in consumers' pocket.
On Tuesday, local garlic and imported Chinese variety were selling at between Tk 180 and Tk 220 a kg in different city areas.
According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), Chinese garlic prices saw a 17.21 per cent hike in the last seven days.
Traders attributed the sudden price surge to a fall in local production and rising import costs.
Abdur Gafur, a vendor at Pathsalar Goli in Rayer Bazar, told the FE that imported garlic was trading at Tk 750-Tk 820 per palla (5.0 kg) at Shyambazar and Karwan Bazar wholesale markets, up from Tk 650-Tk 700 a week earlier.
Contacted, Narayan Chandra Saha, a Shyambazar-based trader and importer, said prices of both imported and local varieties have increased recently.
The import cost surged to $1450-1500 a tonne in the last week of January from $1100-1150 a tonne earlier, he said.
The import cost has increased due to low garlic output in neighbouring India, he said.
And a rise in demand for the kitchen item in India has pushed up global prices, he explained.
Gradual weakening of taka against the US dollar is also a reason behind the price hike, he added.
He also said local production of garlic has also dropped because of adverse weather conditions last year.
However, harvesting of new garlic will begin at the end of this February in many places, which could help ease the prices to some extent, he added.
Contacted, Director Kabir Hossain of Horticulture Wing under the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said the country has a target to produce 0.60 million tonnes of garlic from 79,000 hectares of land in the current fiscal year (FY '20).
Production has been affected to some extent due to unseasonal rainfall in December and January last, he said.
According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and commerce ministry data, local production of garlic was 0.49 million tonnes in FY '18 against the domestic demand of 1.1-1.2 million tonnes.
The country imports 0.5-0.7 million tonnes of garlic a year mainly from China and India to meet the demand.
Meanwhile, onion and ginger prices remained static, maintaining their previous high.
Onion of local varieties was selling at Tk 130-Tk 140 a kg while local and imported ginger at between Tk 150 and Tk 180 a kg on Tuesday.
