Green chilli sells at Tk 800 per kg

Price of green chilli hit an all-time high as it was being sold at Tk 800 per kg in the kitchen markets of Dhaka on Saturday.

The price increased by almost 90 per cent in last four days and around 560 to 600 per cent in last two weeks, according to the market sources.

Heavy rain caused damage to many local crops, including green chilli. On the other hand, the import was also halted due to the Eid vacation. It resulted in such an abnormal hike of the chilli.

The ministry of agriculture has permitted private sector importers to import 11,600 tonnes of green chilli from neighbouring India.

Juel Rana, a vegetable vendor at West Dhanmondi, told the FE that he bought green chilli at Tk 720 a kg from  Rayerbazar-Beribadh wholesale vegetable market. Only one wholesaler in the market brought green chilli from Dinajpur. He was selling two to three kgs of chilli to each vendor.

Obaidul Hoqe, a vegetable wholesaler at Mohammadpur Krishi Market in the city, said the local production has seriously been hampered both by drought and rain.

“The drought of April and May in Rajshahi, Pabna, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Kushtia and Faridpur regions caused heavy damage on summer chilli production. Meanwhile, the recent rain has also been affecting the existing chilli fields,” he said.

He further said there is a shortage of green chilli in the market. Moreover, the traders have no idea about the imported chilli.

According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), green chilli production was 0.62 million tonnes in 2022, of which only 0.128 million tonnes were grown in the summer season (April-October).

Meanwhile, the surge in green chilli price pushed up the demand for red chilli powder resulting in a price surge by Tk 100-150 a kg in last one week.

Red chilli was being sold at Tk 550-600 a kg on Saturday which was Tk 450-500 a kg even on the Eid day (June 29), according to the grocers.

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