Machghat, the largest wholesale hilsa market in the district, is flooded with fish caught in Hatia, Sandwip, Dhalchar, Barguna, Nijhum Dwip, Charfesson, Pathorghata and Bhola.
Hilsa caught from Padma and Meghna rivers weighing about a kilogramme are being sold at Tk 900 while hilsa of the same size from the sea fetched Tk 700. Those weighing two to two-and-a-half kilograms are being sold at Tk 2,000 to Tk 2,100 per kg in Chandpur markets.
Fish traders Nurul Islam and Mofiz Peda said at least 15 trucks and six to seven trawlers, each carrying 150 to 200 maunds of hilsa, started arriving daily after Eid-ul-Azha, reports UNB.
There are about 250 wholesale traders and small businesses at Machghat who buy hilsa from here and supply them to markets in Sylhet, Habiganj, Sreemangal, Kishoreganj, Jamalpur, Mymensingh, and the capital.
Bharat Chandra and his brother Romesh from Tangail said they bought hilsa at Tk 34,000 per maund (each fish weighing about 1.1kg).
The buoyant supply is good news for the labourers too. “We’ve to work from dawn till 10pm. We don’t have time to talk,” one of them said.
Apart from traders, the general people also thronged the Machghat to purchase hilsa at low price. Some traders said 30 percent of the hilsa coming to the market weigh between 500 and 700 grams. They are being sold at Tk 450 per kg.
Engineer Tosaddeque Hossain, working at Chandpur Power House, said he bought a hilsa weighing two kilogram at Tk 2,100 per kg.
“I’ll send it to my elderly mother in Dinajpur,” he said with a complacent smile.
Chandpur Deputy Commissioner A Sabur Mondol said the district was named ‘City of Hilsa’ but was later renamed ‘Ilisher Bari’ or the abode of hilsa as per the suggestion of prominent painter Hashem Khan.
