Bangladesh: Chicken more expensive, potato, onion cheaper

Published 19 Feb,2021 via The Financial Express - Prices of chicken, a main source of protein, witnessed a notable hike while that of potato and onion declined last week.

On the other hand, rice, edible oil and sugar prices remained static maintaining their previous highs in the last seven days.

Seasonal cardinal and diamant varieties of potatoes were retailed at Tk 16-20 per kilogram while common desi variety at Tk 25-30 --- a Tk 3.0-5.0 a kg decline in a week in the city on Thursday, traders said.

A supply glut helped ease potato prices further, said Hafizur Rahman, a potato wholesaler at the city's Mohammadpur Krishi (Agricultural) Market.

He said they were buying diamant and cardinal varieties at Tk 10.0-12.0 a kg from Bogura, Rangpur and other districts of the country in the past week.

Mr Rahman said wholesale prices of such produces in Dhaka were Tk 11-15 a kg depending on their qualities.

The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) said potato prices declined 7.0 per cent in the past week and 32 per cent in the last one month.

The current price of the yellowroot tuber is also 15 per cent lower than that of a year ago, said the state trading wing.

In last year's October and November, potato prices hit an all-time high of Tk 55-60 a kg amid a shortage of supply.

The government later was forced to fix maximum retail, wholesale and cold-storage level prices to arrest the spiraling prices of the tuber.

However, following a good price offer for the crop, farmers have been encouraged for potato cropping this year.

According to the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM), farm level prices of different varieties of potato have plunged to Tk 5.5-8.0 a kg against production costs of Tk 8.0-10.0 a kg.

Data provided by the Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) showed the country is expecting 10.9 million tonnes of potato from 0.48 million hectares of land this year.

Onion prices also continued their downward trend in the week. Onion, a kitchen staple, declined by Tk 5.0 a kg in the past seven days as local varieties were sold at Tk 30- 35 a kg while imported one at Tk 22-25.

All kind of chicken meat became costlier by Tk 15-50 a kg in the week.

Broiler chicken was selling at Tk 145-155 a kg, layer at Tk 170-180, Sonali Tk 260-270 and indigenous Tk 420-48-0 per kg last week.

Rising demand, decline in production and higher production costs have caused the chicken price hike, said insiders.

Rice prices maintained their previous high as coarse varieties were retailed at Tk 46-50, medium Tk 55-56 and finer at Tk 65-82 a kg on Thursday depending on qualities.

Edible oil also remained at its previous high despite the fact that the government fixed maximum retail prices for the essential commodity on Wednesday.

Loose soybean oil was sold at Tk 116-120 per litre against the government's rate of Tk 115 a litre.

Price of loose super palm was Tk 106-110 a litre at retails against government-fixed maximum price of Tk 104 on the day.

However, bottled soybean oil prices remained unchanged at Tk 135 a litre---same as the government-fixed maximum retail price.

The government also fixed wholesale and mill-gate rates of both bottled and loose edible oil.

Retail vendors and grocers yesterday said that they were selling the products purchased a week back.

"We could sell at government fixed rates only if the Dhaka wholesalers start following it," Shakhwat Ali, a grocer in the capital's East Rayerbazar, said.

Sugar prices too remained unchanged at Tk 72-78 per kilogram on the day.

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