Winter vegetables get dearer
Vendor arranges vegetables at a shop at Kazir Dewry Kitchen Market on Monday.Photo: STAR
The winter vegetables remain dearer to the common people in the port city despite the local kitchen markets are buzzing with abundant supply. No sign of downward trend of prices is yet to be seen in spite of huge supply of these vegetables both from local farms and other parts of the country. Almost all the seasonal vegetables including cauliflower, cabbage, tomato, bean, carrot, radish and turnip are still pricey for the middle and low-income people. On a visit to a few wholesale and different retail markets on Sunday and Monday traders could show no plausible reason behind such higher prices. There was also a sharp difference between the prices of the vegetables at the wholesale and retail markets. Traders of both the markets blamed each other for the higher rates. But most of the consumers are not happy at the prices of winter vegetables. On Monday morning Neaz Ahmed was found buying one kilogram of tomato at Tk 40, one kilo of cauliflower at Tk 26 and a tiny bunch of Lal Shak at Tk 8 from Karnaphuli CDA Market. “The prices are much higher at this full season when the supply is adequate,” he said. One kilo of cabbage was selling at Tk 14 to Tk 16, bean at Tk 36 to Tk 40, carrot at Tk 25 to Tk 30, radish at Tk 14 and turnip at Tk 20 at the same market. "We expected the prices of vegetables will ease in winter. But there is no sign of any relief yet," said Habibul, a service holder. Mizanur, a retailer, said they are to buy vegetables at higher prices from the wholesale markets. The same day, wholesalers were selling tomato of northern regions at Tk 12 a kg at Reazuddin Bazar while locally produced good quality tomato of Chakaria was Tk 20. Rafiq, staff of a wholesale centre, said the retail price of locally produced tomato can no way exceed Tk 25. At the wholesale market, cauliflower was selling at Tk 14 to Tk 15 a kg, cabbage at Tk 7 per kilo, radish from Comilla at Tk 3 to Tk 4 a kg. Newly produced potatoes of northern districts like Jamalpur were found selling at Tk 20 to Tk 22 per kilo at the wholesale market. The same item was selling at Tk 30 to Tk 32 a kg at Karnaphuli CDA Market, only 2 kilometres away from the wholesale centre. Potatoes from the old stock are still selling at Tk 28 a kilogram at the retail outlets. Prices of other vegetables like aubergine, pumpkin, gourd, long-bean and other essentials like onion are also higher. Different varieties of aubergine were selling at Tk 24 to Tk 30 while pumpkin price ranges from Tk 18 to Tk 22 a kg. Rashid Ahmad Sawdagor, a wholesale supplier of Reazuddin Bazar, said wholesale price of some vegetables is still higher, blaming increased transport cost. He blamed a section of unscrupulous retailers for making much profit for the price hike of vegetables. Jishu, a retailer of Karnaphuli market, denying the allegation said a good quantity of vegetables is damaged while carrying them to the markets as most of the items become perished after a day or two. They charge little higher only to adjust the loss, Jishu said.
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