The prices of kitchen stuff like lentil, sugar and imported ginger have witnessed a further hike, hitting hard the commoners during this stay-at-home period.
All types of lentil have witnessed a Tk 10-20 hike in prices per kg in the past two days, adding woes to the consumers in this time of coronavirus lockdown.
The price of finer lentil variety shot up to Tk 140-145, medium quality to Tk 100-110 and coarse variety to Tk 80-85 a kg on Monday.
The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has recorded an 8.0-28 per cent surge in lentil prices in the past two days.
Meanwhile, sugar rose in price to Tk 70-75 a kg from Tk 68-72 two days back, according to the state agency.
Imported Chinese ginger prices also continued to swell it was retailed at Tk 310-360 per kg.
Md Jewel Rana, a grocer at West Dhanmondi, told the FE that lentil prices have been increasing since mid-March as people had gone for panic buying fearing lockdown.
Medium quality lentil was traded at Tk 70-75 a kg in the second week of March which is now Tk 110, he said.
Mr Rana said wholesalers at Moulvibazar and Karwanbazar in the capital raised the prices following high demand.
However, traders said the supply of lentil has declined to some extent amid closure of crushing factories following the pandemic.
However, the government has recently initiated to keep crushers of pulses open to maintain smooth supply during the month of Ramadan, according to commerce ministry officials.
Bangladesh Dal Babosayee Samity president Shafi Mahmud told the FE that panic buying and closure of crushers amid labour shortages caused a hike in prices.
He said transport costs have also gone up because of the ongoing lockdown that further put impact on prices.
The leader of the association of lentil wholesalers, however, spoke of no supply shortage of the item amid a big chunk of import.
The market might be stable during Ramadan, he added.
Bangladesh has an annual demand for 1.45 million tonnes of pulses of which lentil comprises 0.65 million tonnes. It produces only 0.18 million tonnes of lentil while the rest is met through import.
However, the prices of most vegetables witnessed a further decline but imported red chilli (dry chilli) and local garlic witnessed a hike on Monday.
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