Hilsa prices jump on move to lift export ban

After remaining almost stable for the last eight months, prices of hilsa witnessed a sudden hike on Tuesday in the wake of a government move to lift the six-year-old ban on export of the fish.
Newly appointed fisheries and livestock minister Narayan Chandra Chanda told a press conference on Monday that the government is going to lift the ban in a bid to check smuggling of the fish.
As the declaration came, prices of the national fish jumped by Tk 50-Tk 200 per kg or apiece at the retail level in a day while the wholesalers also started raising the prices.
In 2012, the government imposed the ban to keep the prices of hilsa within the reach of common people.
Consumer rights activists said prices of hilsa and other fishes will go up further if the ban is lifted.
They suggested conducting a market survey and take the opinion of experts before allowing the export of hilsa.
On Tuesday, medium-sized hilsas (550 gm to 800 gm) sold at Tk 350-Tk 550 each and the bigger hilsas at Tk 700-Tk 1250 each.
On the other hand, small-sized hilsas were selling at Tk 400-Tk 450 a kg, this correspondent found during his visit to three retail markets -- Rayer Bazar, New Market and Hatirpool Bazar -- in the city.
Md Kamal Hossain, a fish trader at Rayer Bazar, said prices of the fish have started rising at the wholesale market since Tuesday morning.
The prices spiralled upward as many traders have started preserving big-sized fishes and decided to observe the market for some more days, he said.
"I bought every four medium-sized hilsas for Tk 1500 at Sowari Ghat wholesale market, up from Tk 1200 just two days ago," he said.
Bangladesh Fish Traders Association president Golam Mortaza Montu told the FE that hilsa catch has declined significantly in the last two months as it is off-season.
The price has been on the upward trend for the last two months, but the announcement by the minister pushes up the prices further, he said.
Wholesalers at Barisal, Chittagong and Barguna have already started raising the prices of the fish, he added.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) president Ghulam Rahman told the FE that prices of hilsa and other fishes will go up further if the government lifts the ban.
Such price hike might increase protein deficiency further in the country, he said.
He also said the government's hilsa conservation programme and the ban on export helped raise production of the fish and reduce its prices significantly in the last few years.
At a time when the living cost increased by 8.44 per cent last year, prices of several fishes, including hilsa, declined by 1.09 to 4.5 per cent, giving a respite to poor people to some extent, he said.
"The government should also take into account the fact that population of the country has increased in step with the rise in production of hilsa in the last five years," he said.
However, an official at the Department of Fisheries (DoF) said that the preliminary data showed that the production of hilsa was 0.496 million tonnes in the last financial year (FY'17), up from 0.35 million tonnes in FY'12.
Hilsa accounts for 10-12 per cent of the country's total fish production.

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