The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The prices of different varieties of rice have come down by Tk 2 to 3 per kg while those of lentils, vegetables and fishes have remained high despite their smooth supply to the markets and price monitoring by FBCCI in the city retail markets yesterday.

All iftar items like puffed rice (muri), dates, lemon, aubergine, cucumber and different fruits were also sold at high rate and hitting hard the people of low-income groups.

Market experts blamed the dishonest businessmen for raising the prices of essential commodities for making windfall profits.

We cannot understand why the prices of essentials are still high even after the ongoing market monitoring by the concerned bodies, said customers yesterday.

All the initiatives taken by the government to contain the prices of essentials have proved abortive and that has forced us to pay extra money for buying them, said Abul Hasem, a rickshaw puller yesterday.

Traders said that they were not hoarding any essential items rather selling those to the customers with minimal margin of profits.

Coarse variety of rice was sold at Tk 31 to 32 per kg yesterday as against Tk 33 to 34 in the past weeks. Per kg of minincate was sold at between Tk 40 and Tk 42 as against Tk 44 to 46 in the past weeks and lata was sold at Tk 35 and Tk 36 as against Tk 37 to 38 and nazirshail was sold at Tk 42 to 44 yesterday which was Tk 46 per kg in the previous weeks.

Per kg of soybean oil was sold at Tk 110 yesterday, as against Tk 112 to 116 during the last week. Super soybean was sold at Tk 88 to 90 per kg that was Tk 96 per over the past week.

Muri (puffed rice) was sold between Tk 60 and Tk 80 depending on their quality and bason was sold between Tk 90 and Tk 110 per kg and gram was sold at Tk 55 per kg yesterday which was almost same in the last couple of weeks.

Different varieties of dates were selling between Tk 80 and Tk 180 per kg yesterday. Apple was sold at Tk 120 per kg, malta at Tk 70 to Tk 80 per kg , grapes was sold at Tk 300 per kg and Mango was sold at between Tk 120 to Tk 150 per kg yesterday.

Local variety of onion was sold at Tk 35 to Tk 36 per kg and imported ones was sold between Tk 24 to Tk 25 per kg and local variety of lentils (masur) was sold at Tk 108 to Tk 110 per kg yesterday, which has almost remained unchanged during the last couple of weeks.

Potato was sold at Tk 17 to Tk 18, aubergine was at Tk 35 to Tk 60 , papaya at Tk 10 to Tk 12, green chilli at Tk 90 to Tk 100 kg per kg and four pieces of different varieties of lemon were sold at between Tk 10 to Tk 12 yesterday.

Medium size of hilsha fish was sold at Tk 300 to Tk 350 and ruhi fish was sold at Tk 150 to Tk 180 per kg. Beef was sold at Tk 200 to 210 and mutton was sold at Tk 250 to Tk 260 yesterday.

Meanwhile, to ease the price burden during the month of Ramzan the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) is selling essential commodities at reasonable prices to the city dwellers through 8 mobile trucks.

Five-litre canned soybean oil was sold at Tk 540, sugar at Tk 30, onion at Tk 20 and gram at Tk 50 per kg yesterday.