With only a few days left before Eid-ul-Azha, the second biggest festival for the country’s Muslim community, the wholesale and retail prices of spices increased both in Dhaka and Chattogram.
During spot visits at different kitchen markets of the two cities, consumers alleged to Bangladesh Post correspondents that prices of spices increased suddenly as a vested group of opportunistic traders became active to cash in on the surge in demand for the essential cooking ingredients ahead of Eid.
“The traders are being able to increase the price of spices according to their whims because of lack of monitoring and surveillance by the market watchdogs,” alleged the consumers. Prices of almost all the spices have increased at the spice markets of the two cities in last two days. At Karwan Bazar, cardamom prices increased by Tk 400-500 per kilogram in a week. Nutmeg and pistachios prices have also increased. The prices of ginger and onion, two essential ingredients for preparing dishes, also shot up in Dhaka’s kitchen markets.
Consumers in Chittagong, the second biggest city after Dhaka, are also paying more for cardamom, cumin and cinnamon. The prices are likely to rise further ahead of Eid ul Azha, said Rumi Ghosh, a retailer at Karnaphuli CDA Market in Chittagong. Some importers and traders blamed the rise in price on their spiralling prices in the global market and delayed delivery of goods from the Chittagong port. In different trading hubs, goods change hands many times before reaching the end users and a group of middlemen make good money in the process.
Faruk Ahmed, proprietor of spice importing firm Faruk Trade International at Khatunganj wholesale hub, said the booking rates of the spices were higher in the international markets and it caused the rise here. He said cardamom usually produced in October and November in Guatemala and its price gets higher in May or June when businesses from Bangladesh and other Muslim majority countries usually book for imports during Eid.
