Monsoon downpour causes commodity prices to go up

The early monsoon rainfall and the ongoing lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic have caused prices of essential cooking ingredients to go up.

On Saturday, kitchen market retailers said that supply of essentials was scarce from outside of the capital as the rainfall had caused supply chain distribution to take a significant hit.

Consumers, however, ignored this claim, adding that vegetable and other commodity retailers always have something to blame the price hike on.

Visiting several kitchen markets across the capital, it was found that prices of most vegetables went up, as well as prices of soybean oil, eggs, chicken, rice, lentil, spices, potatoes, ginger, and garlic.

Ataor Hossain, a vegetable retailer at Hatirpool kitchen market, said: “We are forced to sell most of their products at higher prices due to low supply and increase in transportation cost.

“If the wholesalers sold goods to us at a fair price, we would surely sell our goods at much lower prices than these,” he added.

Motaleb Sardar, another retailer of the same market, said that the monsoon downpour was behind the sudden hike, as vegetable prices are usually low this time of the year.

Rahul Sharma, a consumer, said that lack of monitoring inspires retailers to charge high prices, as they can shift the blame on the rainfall.

Another consumer Sagor Islam said: “Commodity prices are still out of reach for the middle-class. Amid Covid-19, most of the people have lost their regular incomes. The government should increase monitoring and regulate the market price for common people or these price hikes will not stop.”

A litre of soybean was being sold for Tk145-155 on Saturday. 

According to the state-run distribution agency Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), soybean oil prices rose 4pc in two days, 7pc in one month, and 43pc in one year. 

At the same time, the price of eggs has gone up, four pieces were being sold at Tk38, which was Tk28 last week. This is more than a 24pc increase. 

Broiler chickens were being sold at Tk150-160 per kg, which was Tk130-140 last week. 

The price of ginger rose to Tk140 per kg from Tk120, potatoes to Tk25 per kg from Tk18-20, and that of onions rose to Tk45-50 per kg, which was Tk40-42 last week. 

Cauliflower was being sold at Tk40-50 kg, eggplants at Tk40-60 kg, and cucumber at Tk50-60 kg. Pointed gourds were being sold at Tk40-50 per kg. 

Long beans sold for Tk60-70 on Saturday, while carrots cost Tk80 to 100, tomatoes at Tk60-80, lady's fingers at Tk50-60 per kg. Pumpkins apiece were being sold at Tk60-70.