The government initiatives to rein in the prices of essential commodities during the fasting month of Ramadan have had little impact on the market that saw grocery items, meat and a variety of vegetables dearer in the past week. Prices of onion, gram, brinjal, green chilli, beef and edible oil rose further in the week. Only the prices of different varieties of rice remained stable, traders said. The traders said the prices of essential commodities continued to rise in the markets despite the sales of such items by Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) in main cities including Dhaka. The impact on the market has been little due to inadequate supply, they said. Onion was selling between Tk 32 and Tk 34 per kg compared with its previous rates between Tk 28 and Tk 30 per kg while gram was selling between Tk 42 and Tk 44 per kg compared with its previous rates between Tk 36 and Tk 38 per kg. Brinjal, that registered an unusual hike in the vegetable markets, was selling between Tk 40 and Tk 42 per kg compared with its previous rates between Tk 26 and Tk 28 per kg in the city markets. Green chilli was selling between Tk 55 and Tk 60 per kg compared with its previous rates between Tk 36 and Tk 40 per kg, the traders said. Beef was selling between Tk 120 and Tk 130 per kg compared with previous rates between Tk 100 and Tk 110 per kg in the city markets over the last week. The Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) fixed the price of beef at Tk 110 per kg, but the traders sold the meat in the markets at higher prices in the absence of monitoring by the authorities concerned. Five-litre canned edible oil of different brands was selling between Tk 265 and Tk 270 compared with its previous rates between Tk 255 and Tk 260 in the city markets. During the last week rice prices both in the wholesale and retail levels remained unchanged in the city markets, traders said. In the wholesale markets, Paari variety of rice was selling between Tk 660 and Tk 670 per maund, BR-28 sold between Tk 640 and Tk 650 per maund. The prices of Nazirshail ranged between Tk 730 and Tk 750 per maund while its coarse variety was selling between Tk 660 and Tk 670 per maund, traders said. Minicate rice was selling between Tk 850 and Tk 860, Zirashail rice between Tk 800 and Tk 810, while the BRRI rice sold between Tk 600 and Tk 610 per maund. Meanwhile, the L/C, an imported Indian rice, was selling between Tk 670 and Tk 680 per maund. At the retail markets, coarse variety of rice was selling between Tk 18 and Tk 19, unchanged from the previous week. The finer varieties of rice at the retail level were selling between Tk 25 and Tk 27 per kg, unchanged from the previous week. Bitter gourd was selling between Tk 24 and Tk 26 per kg, unchanged from the previous week. Bean was selling between Tk 40 and Tk 50 per kg, a small sized cauliflower and cabbage were selling between Tk 15 and Tk 20 per piece, unchanged from the previous week, traders said. Tomato was selling between Tk 60 and Tk 65 per kg, unchanged from the previous week. Potato was selling at Tk 10 per kg at retail level. During the last week broiler was selling between Tk 80 and Tk 85 per kg. Masur dal, a local variety of lentil was selling between Tk 48 and Tk 52 per kg, unchanged from the previous week. In the retail markets sugar was selling at Tk 40 per kg, remained steady. The traders said poultry eggs were selling at Tk 52 and Tk 54 per dozen, unchanged from the previous week.
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