Heavy rain pushes up veggie, chilli prices

Heavy rain in several districts pushed up further the prices of chickens, vegetables, onions and green chilli last week, intensifying the sufferings of consumers.

Many vegetables witnessed a hike of Tk 10-20 a kg in the last few days while green chilli soared by Tk 100-120 a kg.

Brinjal was selling at Tk 90-100 a kg in the last few days while pointed gourd and okra Tk 60-80, bitter gourd Tk 80-100, clocasia stem Tk 100-110, cucumber Tk 60-80, and bottle gourd Tk 50-80 a piece depending on markets and quality, according to kitchen market sources.

Green chilli was selling at Tk 220-260 a kg on Thursday.

Abdul Kader, a vegetable vendor at Dhanmondi-15, said supply of vegetables declined and the prices increased by Tk 12-15 a kg in the wholesales.

He said incessant rains in many northern and north-western districts caused severe damage to vegetable-and chilli fields, pushing up the prices.

The Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) in its daily price update on October 05 also said that a hike in prices in the village wholesales caused the increase in prices of green chilli, okra and pointed gourd.

Meanwhile, broiler chicken price showed a further rise of Tk 10-15 a kg in the last seven days as was selling at Tk 195-210 a kg on Thursday.

Potato prices increased by Tk 2.0- 5.0 a kg again as white potato was selling at Tk 50-55 a kg and red cardinal at Tk 60-64 a kg, defying the government-fixed rate of Tk 36.

Onion price showed a hike again by Tk 10 a kg as local onion was selling at Tk 90-95 a kg and imported Indian variety at Tk 75-80 a kg, violating the commerce ministry-fixed maximum retail price of Tk 65 a kg.

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