Winter is here, but kitchen markets still on fire

Photo: Collected

Although vegetable prices usually cool off in winter, this time the situation is different as prices of almost all popular winter vegetables are higher than the previous week at different kitchen markets in the capital.

Much to the delight of consumers, the prices went down in the end of December. But it shot up again by Tk 10 to Tk 20 per kilogramme within the first two weeks of this month. Even the prices of eggs shot up by Tk 6 per dozen.

“I bought beans at Tk 25 per kg a few days ago. Now, the sellers are asking Tk 35 for it,” said Rahmatullah, a shopper in Karwan Bazar.

Another shopper Morium Akhter said, “I thought I wouldn’t have to worry about food expenses at least in the winter. I was wrong.”

She said she bought one kilogramme of eggplant at Tk 60, a kg of gourd at Tk 70, a slice of pumpkin at Tk 30, a cabbage at Tk 35 and half kg of bitter gourd at Tk 40.

“The price of each of these vegetables was less by Tk 10 to Tk 15 even two weeks ago,” she said.

Meanwhile, the price of green chili almost doubled. It was being sold at Tk 50 to Tk 60 per kg in December, but now it was Tk 80 to Tk 100.

Aslam, a trader, said farmers were now more interested in producing dry chili as it offers more profitable. As a result, there was a shortage of chili in the market.