Economic Reporter :The prices of spices mainly cumin, cardamom, ginger, garlic have been soaring up over the past few days in the city’s kitchen market despite adequate supplyThough the prices of other essentials remained stable over the last one month, most spices used in meat recipe went up by 10% to 15% on average in the last week of August as Eid approaches, said traders.The price of cardamom mostly used in cooking meat to add flavour saw a sharp rise to Tk1,800 per kg last week from Tk1,400.Cardamom price goes through the roof as it is mostly used during Eid ul Azha, said Masud Alam, a trader of Mahmud General Store in Karwan Baza.He said this spice is used both for cooking fried rice and meat.Cumin, another vital spice for meat recipe, saw a moderate price hike to Tk360 per kg from Tk340 last week. Its price was stable at Tk340 over the last months, but went up from the beginning of the current month ahead of Eid.The price of imported ginger was hiked to Tk120 per kg yesterday from Tk100 a week ago. The price of this item was Tk50 to Tk60 per kg at the beginning of August which started to go up from the second week of the month with a rise to Tk90. Last week it was selling at Tk120.Imported garlic, one of the vital spices for meat recipe, rose by Tk8 to Tk10 in almost every week from the last month. In the first week of August, it ranged between Tk170 and Tk180 per kg on Saturday.55555Price of imported onion was ranging between Tk25 and Tk30 per kg over the last one month, but local onion price went up by Tk5 to Tk45 from Tk40 at the beginning of the current month.Price of Soybean oil rose slightly by Tk1 to Tk2 per litre last month. The Rupchanda brand of Soybean is being sold at Tk455 per container of five litre whereas other brand at Tk440.Fine rice which is traditionally cooked during Eid ul-Azha sees a price hike from Tk95 to Tk100 per kg last week.The price of other essentials like lentil, potato, flour, rice, sugar remained stable even ahead of Eid, but the price of green chilli became double to Tk80 per kg in the last week from Tk40.The price hike of green chilli was not impacted by the upcoming Eid, but because of disruption in transportation due to flood in different districts, said Alamgir, a trader in the kitchen market at Karwan Bazar.Bahar Udding, trader of Shahrasti enterprise in Karwan Bazar, said the price hike of Eid essentials are tolerable, but demand is still lower from expectation as people are busy in cattle market.He assumed that though price of spices started to rise ahead of Eid, it will not go through the roof.
