Poultry bird meat, fish and garlic became costlier last week raising sufferings of the consumers, especially the commoners, already battered with an upward trend in prices of commodities for the last several weeks.
Some vegetables' prices showed a downward trend but most of other essential items remained static maintaining their previous high.
Garlic, one of the main cooking ingredients in the country, became pricier last week from its previous high augmenting woes of the low-income people.
Both imported and local garlic prices increased by 8-10 per cent as the imported variety hit Tk 160 per kilogram on Thursday. Local varieties were selling at Tk 90-120 a kg on the day.
With the latest round of hike, the price of the prime spice continued to rise in the last two consecutive weeks.
The current price of imported garlic is 26 per cent higher than that one year ago, according to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).
Grocers attributed the increase in prices of garlic and ginger to the rising demand of the spices during Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr, the biggest religious festival of Muslims.
Prices of garlic and ginger have been increasing as the Eid nears, they said.
Traders at Shyambazar, Karwan Bazar and other big wholesale markets in the city hiked garlic prices by Tk 40-50 per kg in the last one month despite having ample supply with an apparent motive to make windfall profits, alleged Md Farid Uddin, an employee of a grocery at Poolpar, Jafrabad in the capital.
Chicken, a protein item in the country demand of which increases during Ramadan month and Eid, witnessed another round of price hike in the past week.
Sonali and broiler chicken prices increased further by Tk 10-30.
Prices of broiler, a source of protein for the common people which showed a downtrend two weeks back, increased again by Tk 10 and sold at Tk 140-150 a kg on the day.
Sonali chicken (popularly known as Pakistani) prices increased by Tk 20-30 and was sold at Tk 290-330 a kg.
Local species (deshi murgi) price remained static maintaining its previous high - Tk 490-550 a kg at different markets.
Abdur Rashid Babu, a chicken vendor at Dhanmondi Road No 15, said people who will stay in the capital during the Eid vacation, are buying and storing chicken, contributing to the demand hike.
He said the prices of local and sonali varieties will increase further as the Eid nears.
Prices of fish including hilsa, shrimp, pabda, indigenous ruhi and katla, shing, magur and tengra, shoul and taki became pricier by Tk 50-80 per kg or a piece last week while prices of cultured varieties of pangasius, koi, tilapia and ruhi remained static.
Hilsa of different sizes were sold at Tk 700 to 1,550 a kg, shrimp of different quality and sizes at Tk 500-1,150, shoul at Tk 450-650 and shing and magur at Tk 550-850 on Thursday.
Bangladesh Fish Traders Association (BFTA) President Mortuza Khan Montu said a ban on fishing on the Bay and its adjacent estuaries imposed on May 20 has caused the sudden rise in prices of hilsa and some other fish.
He said traders in coastal regions are selling their stored hilsa at much higher rates as small-sized ones were traded at Tk 550 a kg while medium and big sizes at Tk 700- 1,200 a kg on Wednesday.
He said prices of hilsa will increase further as supply of sea-hilsa might be stopped fully within a few days with a decline in supply of the stored fish.
The government has imposed a two-month ban on fishing in Bangladesh's territorial water in the Bay of Bengal from May 20 to July 23 to conserve fish and other species of the sea.
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