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Prices of onion declined slightly last week but remained beyond the purchasing capacity of low-income segment of the society. Prices of some vegetables increased further in the last seven days augmenting woes of the consumers.
Fish and broiler chicken prices also witnessed a slight decline in that time in the city markets.
Onion, one of the main cooking ingredients, was selling at Tk 120-145 a kilogram (kg) in city retail markets last week despite pledges made multiple times by the government to considerably reduce the price and frequent drives conducted by authorities at key wholesales in the country. Traders said prices of the key spice witnessed an up and down during that period.
At the beginning of last week, onion prices were Tk 125-150 per kg which declined to Tk 120-135 a kg on Saturday last and then again increased by Tk 5.0 to reach Tk 120-140 a kg on Thursday.
Local varieties of onion were sold at Tk 130-140 a kg and imported ones - Burmese and Turkish at Tk 120-125 a kg on the day.
Onion's prices went down slightly on Thursday at wholesale markets including Shyambazar, Karwan Bazar and Beribadh. It declined by Tk 4.0-8.0 a kg.
Local varieties were sold at Tk 112-125 a kg and Burmese and Turkish at Tk 90-112 a kg at different wholesales in Dhaka city.
Our Chattogram Correspondent adds: The government's vigilance team, led by Deputy Secretary of the commerce ministry Md Selim Hossain, fined four retail outlets Tk 20,000 and two wholesale shops Tk 80,000 in the port city for selling onions at a much high rate than the price they paid for purchasing the commodity.
Onions were selling at Tk 65-75 at Chattogram wholesales after the drives. The spice, however, was sold at Tk 100-130 a kg at retails on the day.
Prices of different kinds of fish showed a decline last week in Dhaka---by Tk 40-100 per kg which traders attributed to increased supply of Hilsa after the 22-day fishing ban was withdrawn.
Hilsa price declined further by Tk 100 a kg but still remained higher than that of the pre-ban period.
The government imposed the catching, transporting and trading ban on the fish across the country in between October 9 and Oct 31 under its mother Hilsa conservation programme.
The silver fish traded at Tk 850-1,100 a kg at retails on Thursday, based on size and quality.
Prices of indigenous fish including shrimp, shoul, pabda, ruhi, katla, kajori, bali, tengra and golsha declined by Tk 40-80 a kg.
Cultured ruhi, katla, grass carp, koi, pangash and tilapia plunged by Tk 20-40 per kg.
Vegetable costs remained much high last week. Prices of pumpkin, brinjal and clocasia stem increased by Tk 5-10 a kg in the past seven days.
Pumpkin was sold at Tk 45-50 a kg, brinjal at Tk 60- 80 and stem at Tk 60-70 a kg on the day.
Early harvested potato hit few markets at Tk 120-Tk 130 a kg, albeit beyond the buying power of the consumers.
Stored carrot was sold at Tk 90-100 a kg, stored tomato at Tk 120 and early harvested tomato at Tk 140 a kg yesterday.
Prices of broiler chicken, one of the main protein sources for the commoners, slightly declined last week. It's price was declined by Tk 5.0-10 and was selling at Tk 120-135 a kg at the weekend.