Green chilli price hit Tk240 a kilogram last week registering a Tk50-60 surge in seven days, increasing sufferings of the consumers further.
Meanwhile, soybean oil was still selling at its previous high though the government reduced the price.
Supply crunch for the persisting offseason in many districts, flooding in some major growing hubs as well as inadequacy in import are the reasons behind such price hike, said traders.
Green chilli of different varieties sold at Tk200-240 a kg at the retail level which was Tk140-180 a kg seven days ago, found the FE visiting three kitchen markets in the city.
Mominur Rahman, a vegetable vendor at Rayer Bazar, said the spice showed total Tk120-140 a kg hike in last one month.
He adds every year the scarcity begins from the last week of June and it continues until October.
Md Jillur, a trader at Sadeq Khan Agricultural Market in Beribadh-Rayer Bazar, said off-season and flooding in some major growing hubs mainly caused supply crunch of chilli in the late summer.
A large volume is imported from India between July and September which helps cool prices to some extent, he said, adding export is yet to start this year.
Imran Master, a Karwan Bazar-based trader, said floods caused extensive damage to crops in Jamalpur, Kurigram and parts of Bogura, Nilphamari and Lalmonirhat districts.
On the other hand, key chilli producing districts like Panchagarh, Pabna, Rajshahi, Jhineidah, Chuadanga, Meherpur, Rajbari and Faridpur, experienced a drought which also hit crops.
The country has an annual demand of 0.45-0.5 million tonnes of green chilli while production was nearly 0.5 million tonnes in the financial year 2020-21, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
Assistant director of the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) Rashed Khan told the FE that the problem is production of chilli is one fourth in Kharip season (April-October) compared to that of Rabi or winter (November-March).
He added chilli production in summer is maximum 0.1 million tonnes while it is 0.4 million tonnes in winter.
He said though the prices are now higher the price gap between the farm level and city retail markets is still huge, raising woes of the consumers.
However, bottled soybean was selling at Tk195-200, loose soybean at Tk180-185 and loose super palm at Tk165-170 a litre in the retail markets though the government set their prices at Tk185, Tk166 and Tk 152 respectively.
Traders said it would take a few more days to reach the new bottles to the groceries.
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