Soybean oil, Hilsa prices move up

FE Report
Prices of Hilsa and some other fish varieties increased while vegetables witnessed further reduction in the city kitchen markets on Friday, compared with a week ago.
Soybean oil prices showed further hike on the day.
Prices of silver fish Hilsa rose by Tk50-100 per piece or per kg in the last seven days.
Hilsa was sold at Tk400-450 per kg (450-600 gram), Tk550-650 per piece (700-850 gram) and Tk650-800 per piece (900 gm or more) on the day.
Traders said the supply has decreased for the last 10 days, which caused the hike.
"Hilsa catch witnessed a plunge due to a ban on Jatka catching for the next six months, which is forcing many fishermen to refrain from fishing," a wholesaler at Showarighat Md Anisur Rahman said.
He said a large quantity of Hilsa is also being smuggled to India, which deprived the consumers of big sized fish.
But he said that the present price is nearly 50 per cent less than that of 2012, the pre-export ban period.
He said: "The price is still within the reaches of limited income people thanks to the export ban."
A few river fish including shrimp, pabda, and golsha increased by Tk50-80 per kg in the last seven days.
Pabda was sold at Tk750-800 per kg (medium sized) and Tk850-1,000 per kg (bigger sized) on the day--a Tk80 hike in seven days, fish retailers said.
Soybean oil price increased in the market for last 14 days.
Soybean (loose) sold at Tk100-104 per kg on Friday, which was 98-100 seven days back and Tk88-90 per kg two weeks ago.
Market observers blamed the unholy alliance between importers and allied traders for the price hike of the item.
Winter factor is also a major reason behind the rise in price as many of the traders adulterate soybean by mixing super palm oil with it, which is not possible in winter season as palm oil solidifies during the season, they said.
Local bean, radish, cabbage, cauliflower, tomato, long bean, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, papaya, green banana (kach-kola) and all kinds of vegetable leaf reduced by Tk2-20 at per kg or per piece or per bunch on the day.   
Cauliflower, cabbage sold at Tk10-20 per piece based on their size, tomato sold at Tk60-80 per kg, local bean at Tk40-50, long bean at Tk40-45 per kg, papaya at Tk15-18 per kg, radish at Tk15-20 per kg, coriander leaf at Tk100-120 per kg, spinach at Tk6-8 per bunch, red amaranth at Tk5-8 per bunch on Friday, according to key kitchen markets in the city.
Newly harvested potato prices reduced by Tk20-30 per kg and sold at Tk40-60.    
Most of other commodity prices were static on the day.
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