Flour prices witness fresh hike as vegetables stabilise

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FE Report Flour prices marked a fresh hike in the city's kitchen markets as those of vegetables stabilised with the increased supply, while onion decreased, traders said Friday. Prices of both packed and unpacked flour (Atta) increased by Tk 1-2 per kg. Loose Atta was selling between Tk 28 and Tk 30 per kg while prices of two-kg packages ranged from Tk 65 to Tk 66. But flour (Maida) maintained the earlier high trend and loose variety was sold at Tk 38-42 per kg and packed variety at Tk 92 for a two kg packet. Edible oil also maintained the previous week's high trend. Per litre of soybean was sold between Tk 118 and Tk 120. Five litre canned oil of different brands such as 'Teer' and 'Rupchanda' were selling between Tk 580 and Tk 605. Traders said supply increase helped stabilise prices of vegetables, but sale remained sluggish. But consumers told the FE that the prices of vegetables are still high, even after the arrival of winter varieties. Retailers said they had to purchase commodities with high prices from the wholesalers, making it difficult for them to reduce prices. Brinjal prices ranged from Tk 25 to Tk 35 per kg, cucumber at Tk 25, tomato between Tk 70 and Tk 80, bean at Tk 20-50, green papaya between Tk 15 and Tk 18 and potato at Tk 16-18. A medium size cabbage was selling at Tk 20-25 and cauliflower at Tk 20-25, but per kg of green chili was sold between Tk 80 and 100 per kg. Per kg of ruhi fish was sold between Tk 240 and Tk 280 and a medium size of hilsha fish was sold between Tk 450 and Tk 500. Retail level market prices showed that per kg of locally produced onion was sold between Tk 30 and 32, down from Tk34-36 and the imported category went down by Tk 2.0 per kg to Tk 26-30. Garlic was sold between Tk 55 and Tk 60 and ginger at Tk 75 to Tk 80. Unpacked sugar was trading at Tk 58-60 while packed one was sold between Tk 68 and Tk 70. Najirshail variety of rice depending on quality was selling between Tk 48 and Tk 54, minicate between Tk 46 and Tk 50, BR-28 between Tk 38 and Tk 40 and coarse rice between Tk 28 and Tk 30. Per kg of beef was sold at Tk 260-270 and mutton was sold between Tk 380 and Tk 400 while broiler chicken was sold at Tk 110-115 per kg.