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Prices of rice, onion, potato, broiler chicken, and egg witnessed a further hike on Sunday ahead of the lockdown from today (Monday), raising the concern of the commoners.
Rice prices increased by Tk 2.0-3.0 a kg, onion Tk 5.0-10 a kg, potato Tk 3.0-5.0 a kg, broiler chicken Tk 10 a kg, and egg Tk 10-11 per dozen.
Rice of coarse varieties was sold at Tk 48-52 a kg, medium variety Tk 56-60 a kg, and finer quality Tk 66-82 a kg.
Onion of local varieties was sold at Tk 40-50 a kg, while imported varieties at Tk 35-40 a kg.
Farm egg prices shot up to Tk 100-105 per dozen from Tk 88-95 two days back.
Broiler chicken was sold at Tk 165-170 a kg, while potato at Tk 24-25 a kg on the day.
Meanwhile, wholesalers and retailers blamed each other for the latest price hike.
Kamrul Hasan, a grocer at Katasur in Mohammadpur, said prices of some essentials witnessed the hike amid panic buying by a large number of city dwellers following the lockdown.
He said onion prices increased to Tk 33-38 a kg at the wholesale level on Sunday, which was Tk 28-32 a kg one day ago.
The price of a 50-kg rice sack increased by Tk 100 at Mohammadpur Krishi Market just after the announcement of the lockdown on Saturday.
Mohammad Asadullah, a Babubazar-based rice wholesaler, said prices of some varieties of the staple food increased by Tk 15-20 a sack in the city in the last two weeks following a normal business trend.
He also said grocers raised prices intentionally to make more profit. Prices might cool down at the retail level with the end of the panic buying.
Narayan Chandra Saha, a wholesaler at Shyambazar, claimed that spice prices did not rise at Shyambazar in the city, as they had sold local onion at Tk 28-32 a kg on Saturday.
Many wholesalers in other parts of the city sourced onion from Shyambazar. They might have raised prices, as reflected at the retail level, he opined.
The Ministry of Commerce urged people on Sunday not to go for panic buying of essential goods, as there were enough stock and supply of commodities in the country.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) secretary Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan said the government's agencies concerned had no preparation following the impact of any announcement of lockdown on such a short notice.
Strict monitoring was needed to check artificial price hike during the lockdown period and the upcoming month of Ramadan, he opined.