Staff Reporter :
Price of eggs, one of the vital elements of protein, has been rising for the last few days.
One dozen of eggs was sold for Tk 110 to 115, with an increasing of Tk 15-20 on Sunday.
Essential spices like onion, garlic, cardamom, cinnamon and cumin have also become costlier during the same period.
In the capital’s Moghbazar, Farmgate and Karwan Bazar kitchen markets, each kg of both local and imported onion prices have risen by at least Tk 10, garlic by Tk 20 and cardamom by Tk 1,000.
Each kg of cinnamon is being sold at Tk 400 to 450 and cumin at Tk 380 to 450. The spices were only between Tk 40 and 60 per kg less than a month ago.
Shoppers alleged that retailers and wholesalers were out to make some extra profit ahead of the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha. They had started raising the prices since the budget was announced early last month.
“Eggs are not cheap anymore, especially for low-income people. It is going almost beyond our means,” said Nazrul Islam, a shopkeeper in Kawran Bazar.
However, shopkeepers claimed that the hot and humid weather rotting stockpiles and rising prices of imported goods were causing the price hike. Sirajul Howlader, wholesaler of eggs at Karwan Bazar, said that poultry farm owners were reporting a slump in production as chickens fell sick or simply laid fewer eggs.
“The price of a kg of cardamom is nearly Tk 3,000 — it is unacceptable. It was much cheaper during the Ramadan,” said Rabin Chandra, a shopper at Moghbazar.
Spice wholesaler Nasir Mollah at Karwan Bazar said that the prices had increased recently in the international market and may continue to rise further. He added that the price hike had nothing to do with the budget and Eid.
Onion wholesaler Rakub Hasan in Moghbazar said that thousands of sacks of onion had been rotted due to the weather.
