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Prices of edible oil, onion and ginger fell last week, but those for vegetables soared due to rise in consumption by thousands of people gathered for Bishwa Ijtema at Tongi, near Dhaka.
Edible oil of different brands in five-litre containers was selling at Tk 265-270 against Tk 285-Tk 290 previously, traders said at the city's Kaptan Bazar while talking to the FE.
Jasim Uddin, a retailer at Kaptan Bazar, said prices of edible oil fell due mainly to rise in its supply.
When asked the country manager of the Malaysian Palm Oil Promotion Council (MPOPC) Fakhrul Alam said at the wholesale level the price of edible oil declined by Tk 250 per maund due to increase in the supply of the item.
He said soybean was selling at Tk 1500 per maund compared to its previous rate at Tk 1750 per maund at the wholesale level.
The prices of locally produced onion ranged between Tk 16 and Tk 18 per kg compared with its previous rates between Tk 24 and Tk 26 per kg.
Traders said ginger was selling between Tk 30 and Tk 35 per kg against Tk 40-Tk 45 per kg.
Jasim Uddin said sugar price has been maintaining a higher trend in the markets over the last few weeks due mainly to short supply and price manipulation by a dishonest business syndicate.
According to the Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) statistics the monthly demand of sugar in the country is more than 100,000 tonnes.
Against this backdrop BSFIC sold 10,672 tonnes of sugar in the current month through its appointed dealers.
On the other hand, businessmen have been importing in small quantity of sugar due mainly to cope with higher dollar value and price rise of the commodity in the international markets, traders said.
Traders said at the grocery stores sugar price remained unchanged at Tk 52-Tk 54 per kg.
At the rice markets, prices of coarse varieties of rice were unchanged at Tk 16.30-Tk 17.20 at the wholesale level, and at Tk18.0-Tk 19.0 per kg at the retail market.
At the retail level, finer varieties of rice were selling between Tk 22 and Tk 28 per kg over the past week.
One kg packet flour was selling between Tk 19 and Tk 20 per kg while its two kg packet was selling between Tk 38 and Tk 40 in the city markets over the last week, unchanged from the previous week.
BDNEWS adds: The prices of winter vegetables marked a substantial rise at retail markets due to short supply in the city as a bulk of the items was diverted to the Bishwa Ijtema venue at Tongi.
Some 2-3 million people have gathered in the Ijtema venue at Tongi. "The supply has declined as a major portion of vegetables is now going to Ijtema," said Mohammad Ali, a vegetable wholesaler at the Karwan Bazar.
He said the price of vegetables depend largely on the supply. "The prices were lower last week because of better supply," he added.
Both the prices of aubergine and cauliflower rose by Tk 6 each kg and piece respectively. A kg of aubergine was selling at Tk 16 in the city markets. The price of aubergine was Tk 10-12 last week.
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