Export ban makes Hilsa less pricy at home

FE Team | Published: August 30, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

FE Report
Prices of Hilsa, egg and imported Indian onion decreased on Friday compared with a week ago, according to traders.
Vegetable prices showed stable trend maintaining the higher price range while coriander powder prices increased. Other essentials were more or less stable on the day.
Prices of the national fish Hilsa went down following a slight increase in supply, traders said.
While prices of small sized fish marked a significant fall, those of bigger ones saw slight decrease, traders of the city's major kitchen markets said.
Hilsa was sold at Tk500-600 per kg (450-600 gram sized)--Tk100 to Tk120 reduction in a week.
Per piece Hilsa weighing 750-900 gram was selling at Tk450-650 while fish more than 900 gram in weight at Tk850, a reduction of Tk40-50 per piece.
"Big fish are rare, most of them are smuggled to India," fish trader at Showarighat wholesale Md Anisur Rahman said.
He said: "Hilsa supply usually increases in rainy season. "But it didn't increase this year according to our expectation."
He also mentioned that small fish prices reduced in Barisal and Patuakhali as supply was increasing for the last three to four days.
"But prices are much higher this time," he said.
An official at Department of Fisheries said that the country's Hilsa production increased to 0.404 million tonnes in FY'14 from 0.396 million tonnes in FY'13.
He said that export ban made Hilsa within the reach of common people but random smuggling to India in recent times has made the price of the national fish higher.
However, prices of most other varieties of fish remained static maintaining higher prices.
Egg (farm) prices decreased to Tk32-33 (wholesale) and Tk34-36 (retail) per hali (four pieces)--a Tk4 reduction at per hali in a week.
Khandker Mohammad Mohsin, convener of Bangladesh Poultry Rakkha Jatiya Parishad, a platform of poultry farmers, said that production started to increase at the farm levels, which helped reduce the price.
He said the prices of egg went down by Tk1.2-1.5 per piece at farm levels in the last ten days.
However, following the reduction in import cost, prices of Indian onion reduced by Tk1-2 per kg in the last seven days.
Nashik onion (an Indian variety) was sold at Tk30-32(small) and Tk33-35 per kg on Friday.
The Indian government recently re-fixed minimum export price of onion at $350 from $500 per tonnes.
Meanwhile, local onion prices were static---sold at Tk40-44 per kg.
Coriander powder price increased to Tk280-300 per kg from Tk 240-250 per kg seven days back.
Fall in local production coupled with increasing import cost of seed caused the hike, retailers said.
Most of the vegetables were sold above Tk50 per kg maintaining the same prices compared with its previous.
Only papaya, few varieties of brinjal and eddo (mukhi) sold below Tk50 on the day.
Tomato, chilli and bitter gourd (ustha variety) were sold at Tk120-130, Tk120-130, and Tk60-80 per kg respectively on the day.
Submergence of crop fields by flood water in many vegetable growing districts has damaged thousands of hectares of lands resulted in price hike, traders said.
The prices may witness further increase if the flood condition worsens in the coming days, they predicted.