The prices of beef, chicken and fish witnessed a fresh hike on Saturday after remaining static in local markets for one and a half weeks.
Beef, broiler chicken, sonali chicken, hilsa and other riverine fish, ruhi, katla and other cultured fish got costlier by Tk 20-100 a kg ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr.
The beef prices further increased to Tk 750-850 a kg at maximum outlets of the city - Tk 20-30 a kg further surge.
However, the news that Khalil Gosto Bitan at Shahjahanpur in the capital would stop selling beef at a cheaper rate from April 1 has also impacted the market, said insiders.
Contacted, Khalilur Rahman, owner of Khalil Gosto Bitan that sells beef at Tk 595 a kg in Ramadan, said the cattle prices shot up by 30-40 per cent in recent weeks, making it impossible for him to sell beef at such a lower rate.
"As I provide beef at such a lower rate than that of mainstream market, it is not possible for me to raise the price again," he said.
While visiting Khalil's outlet, the FE found that hundreds of people were in a queue to source beef at Tk 595 a kg.
"Earlier, a person was allowed to buy five kgs at Khalil which has been minimised to three kgs," said Mostafa Azam, a resident of Shewrapara, Mirpur who went there to source beef at such a lower rate.
Wahedur Rahman and his family members came from Tongi industrial area to buy Khalil's beef.
He says that three of his family members have come as they could buy 15 kgs of meat which would be enough for their Eid vacation and in this way minimum Tk 2,000 could be saved.
Meanwhile, broiler chicken sold at Tk 210-220 a kg, kok/Sonali at Tk 340-370 a kg on Saturday - Tk 20-40 a kg surge.
Cultured ruhi and katla were retailed at Tk 350-500 a kg, hilsa at Tk 1000-1850 a kg and riverine ruhi at Tk 650-1200 a kg.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) vice-president SM Nazer Hossain has termed the government agencies' latest announcement and market drives as "much ado, about nothing".
He said when both the commerce and agriculture ministries and their ministers were busy with watermelons, traders were betting on other products like onion, potato, beef, chicken, fish etc.
He said effective market drives are needed which could ensure capital punishment for wrongdoers to prevent market cartel to give consumers some sort of relief.
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