Our correspondent

TANGAIL, Mar 4: Price of rice came down while other essential commodities like edible oil, chicken, eggs, pulses and sugar were maintaining a high trend in the district over the last two weeks.

While visiting different markets of the district, this correspondent found that retail price of rice of almost all varieties has reduced by around Tk 3 per kg as wholesale price fell by Tk 4 per kg.

Coarse rice was sold at the rate in between Tk 24 and Tk 27 per kg, BR 28-29 at Tk 28 to Tk 30 per kg. Fine najir shail and miniket varieties were sold at around Tk 35 per kg.

Several rice traders of the Sadar Upzila said that government and private stock of rice and paddy were adequate this year. Early reports of a good cultivation of Boro and the government announcement of launching open market sales of rice next month had made a positive impact on the rice market.

Loose atta was sold at Tk 22 to Tk 23 per kg while atta in two kilogrammes at Tk 50 Tk 52.

The price of many other commodities including edible oil, sugar, chicken and egg, however, gradually increased in the last week, as market found the supplies falling short.

Supply of eggs in wholesale markets fell during the past couple of weeks pushing up their price, said Anowar Hossain, owner of a retail egg shop. The price of four eggs was around Tk 29.

The high price of chicken increased further last week. Live broiler was selling in between the rates of Tk 130 and Tk 140 per kg. Domestic poultry was selling within the range of Tk 200 to Tk 220 per kg showing an average rise of Tk 15 over the last two weeks.

Traders said edible oil, beef, poultry birds and fish prices were soaring at both the wholesale and retail ends due to high demands for these for different social occasions like wedding and picnic likely to continue until next month.

A tight supply of the commodities coupled with high demand increased the prices by Tk 5 to Tk 6 per kg over the past two weeks.

Loose soybean oil was sold at Tk 76 and palm oil in between Tk 62 and Tk 65 per kg. Different brands of canned soybean oil containing 5-liter were sold in between Tk 370 and Tk 385.

Onion is selling within the range of Tk 40 to Tk 42. Imported one is sold at Tk 30 to 35 per kg. Lentils of different verities are sold in between the rates of Tk 80 to Tk 105 per kg.

Shawkat Hossain, a vegetable trader, said prices of vegetables remained unchanged in the week. Potato was sold at the rates from Tk 12 to Tk 15 per kg, while tomato between Tk 15 to Tk 20, papaya was sold at Tk 8 to Tk 10 and green chilli at Tk 20 to Tk 24 per kg.

Consumers said price of essential commodities would comedown if there was market mechanism to mitigate the price gap between wholesale and retail markets. They urged the government to apply all possible means to keep the price of essentials within the purchasing capacity of the public.