Prices of all kinds of spices have started surging owing to unscrupulous traders’ attempt to cash in on the rising demand of the essentials during Eid-ul-Adha.
With still about three weeks to go before the holy festival, the wholesale and retail prices of different spices have increased by at least Tk 20 to Tk 500 per kilogram in the city kitchen markets in span of last couple of weeks.
Cardamom, cinnamon, garlic, ginger and onion are dominating the list of spices that have witnessed price spiral. However, prices of packaged spices and edible oil remain stable. Consumers alleged that prices of spices increased suddenly as a vested group had become active to cash in on the surge in demand for the essential cooking ingredients ahead of Eid.
The observed that the traders have gotten away with increasing the spice prices because of a lack of monitoring and surveillance by the market watchdogs.
During visits to a number spice markets in the city over the last two days, this correspondent found that prices of almost all the spices had increased. At Karwan Bazar on Wednesday, cardamom was selling for Tk 2,800-2,900 per kg, which was Tk 2000-2300 just few days ago. Nutmeg was selling for Tk 2,500-2,600, which was Tk 200-300 less in the previous week. Cloves was selling for Tk 850 per kg, which was Tk 700 last week, while black peeper, cumin and cinnamon were selling for Tk 580-600, Tk 350-400 and Tk 450 respectively. Just a week ago, these were selling for Tk 500-520, Tk 300 and Tk 400 respectively.
Apart from these, the local variety of garlic was selling for Tk 170 per kg and Indian garlic for Tk 190, which were TK 150 and Tk 170 respectively in the previous week.
Meanwhile, one kg of ginger was selling for Tk 150-160 against Tk 100-120 last week. The local variety of onion was selling for Tk 55-60, which was Tk 35 in the previous week, while imported Indian onion was selling for Tk 40 per kg, which was Tk 25 last week. Retailers said as the spice prices are high at wholesale market, they had to raise the retail rate.
Mentionable, for cooking and medicinal purpose 44 types of spices are used in the country. Of these, majority are imported from abroad. Some importers said among the 44 types of spice used in our country, at least 12 are imported ones. According to traders, yearly 2.5 lakh tonnes of spices are imported into the country.
They said through the Chattogram sea port, an average of 1.5 lakh tonnes of spices are imported annually. According to sources with customs department, almost 1.98 lakh tonnes of spices were imported through Chattogram port during 2017-18 fiscal, which was 1.82 lakh tonnes in 2016-17 fiscal. Rest of the imported spices comes from India through different land ports.
Spices importers said the country import spices from 42 countries. Among them, Singapore, Chine, Vietnam, Guatemala, Indonesia, Pakistan, Syria, Afghanistan, Colombia, Madagascar, Malaysia and Sri Lanka are mention worthy. Meanwhile, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi while attending District Commissioner conference on Tuesday said price of spices including onion and garlic would come down within the following 15 days. At the same time, he advised the DCs to continue surveillance so that price of daily essentials and other species remain stable.