Prices of vegetables and edible oils shot up in the city markets last week, raising further the woes of the commoners.
Different varieties of vegetables were selling Tk5.0 to Tk20 per kg higher on Thursday compared to that of the previous week, trading sources said.
According to them, brinjal was now selling at Tk 100-130 a kg, bitter gourd at Tk100-110, colocasia stems, okra, eddo , ridge gourd and sponge gourd at Tk 90-110, pumpking Tk 55-65, tomato Tk 130-150, carrot Tk 140-160 and country bean Tk 180-220 a kg.
On the other hand, the prices of leafy vegetables were ranging between Tk 15 and Tk35 a bunch, Tk 5.0 up from the previous week.
Abdul Wahab, a trader at Rayer Bazar, said the recent rainfall disrupted the smooth supplies of most of the vegetables, thus pushing up their prices further.
He said although early winter produce like cauliflower, cabbage, country bean have started arriving in the city markets, prices are significantly higher than usual.
He said the vegetable market will remain volatile until the arrival of adequate winter crops in the markets.
Meanwhile, prices of edible oil, especially loose one, increased notably in the last week.
Loose soybean oil was selling at Tk 175 to180 a liter at the retail levels while super palm oil prices were ranging between Tk 162 and Tk 165 a liter, up by Tk 6.0-8.0 a litre from the last week's prices.
The prices of soyabean oil increased in the markets even though the government has not accepted the traders' proposal for raising its prices by Tk 10 per liter.
It was alleged that a section of traders were creating an artificial supply shortage of edible oil in the market.
Recently, the Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vanaspati Manufacturers Association sent a proposal to the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) for revising the edible oil price upward by Tk 10 per liter.
Following the proposal, the ministry sat with edible oil traders on September 22 last and decided in principle to allow a Tk 1.0 hike a kg.
However, refiners and marketing companies have not officially announced any changes yet. But the prices of loose edible oil have already gone up in the market.
Grocers said the rise in the wholesale rate has pushed up retail prices of edible oil.
Helal Khan, a trader at Sadeq Khan Krishi Market in Rayer Bazar-Beribadh area, said the wholesale price of a drum (208 liters) of loose soybean oil rose to Tk 35,400 from Tk 33,000 previously while super palm oil prices went up to Tk 31,500 per drum from Tk 29,500.
Meanwhile, prices of bottled oil have remained unchanged at the retail levels.
But the supply of bottled soyaben oil declined in the market as refiners or their distributors were not supplying the same as per the requirements, said Jamal Uddin, a grocer at Katsur in Mohammadpur.
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