<i>High price makes seasonal fruits sour for consumers</i>
Seasonal fruits at a store at Station Road in the port city.Photo: STAR
Delicious seasonal fruits have turned sour for consumers in Chittagong due to their high prices caused by poor supply even in the peak fruit season. Supply of mango, the first choice of most consumers, is also poor this year compared to the previous years due to fall in production caused by monsoon nor'wester in the northern districts, said the traders. With the advent of summer this year, local varieties of seasonal fruits like mango, jackfruits, litchi, pineapple and others produced in Chittagong region started arriving in the markets since middle of April. Fruits from northern region of the country started coming here two or three weeks ago, but not in abundance, sources said. Langra, a popular variety of mango from Rajshahi and adjoining districts, is yet to come in abundance while traders hoped to get supply of fazli, another mouth-watering species, in one or weeks. Himsagar imported from India is now selling at Tk 90 to Tk 100 per kilogram and the same variety produced in Kushtia are being sold at Tk 80 to Tk 90 a kg at the retail markets in the port city while good quality of himsagar was sold at Tk 60 to Tk 70 last year. Langra of Kushtia was found at Tk 70 to Tk 80. The wholesales at BRTC Fallmundi (fruit storehouse) were selling a five-kg tukri (basket) of himsagar and langra from Bagha of Rajshahi at Tk 250 to Tk 300 on Monday. Wholesale price of guti, a local variety of mango, is Tk 25 to Tk 35 while vendors and retailers are selling this variety at Tk 40 to Tk 50. The price hike of the seasonal fruits makes the consumer frustrated. Arifur Rahman, a consumer, said it is really higher price for fruits in this high season. Traders could not give any reasonable answer about the price hike of fruits without pointing to the price hike of other essentials. Some of them, however, blamed the poor supply of mango for the higher price. Production of mango falls this year compared to last year in Rajshahi and adjoining districts as huge amount of mangoes fell down before getting mature due to nor'wester, Kamruzzaman, a mango supplier of Bagha, told this correspondent on Monday. Litchi of Dinajpur, Thakurgaon and Meherpur was found selling at Tk 2400 per tukri of 1000 pieces at the wholesale markets. The same quality of litchi of 100 pieces was found selling at Tk 250 to Tk 350 at retail markets at Reajuddin Bazar, Karnuphuli market and Bakshirhat. Locally produced 100 pieces of litchi from Bashkhali were selling at Tk 120 to Tk 150, said traders. Jackfruit, rich in food value, and delicious pineapple are coming from the hilly region of three districts of Chittagong Hill Tracts. These fruits grow well in Burighata, Marishya, Subhalong, Maini, Longadu of Rangamati and other areas of Khagrachhari and Bandarban. A big sized jackfruit was being sold at Tk 60 to Tk 70 while the medium sized one at Tk 20 to Tk 25 in the wholesale markets of BRTC and Firingibazar last week while the price was Tk 30 and Tk 15 last year. Traders at Reazuddin Bazar were selling a pair of better quality pineapple from Kanchannagar at Tk 35 to Tk 40 while pineapple from Rangamati was being sold at Tk 12. Traders said the price will slightly fall within a couple of weeks with arrival of different kinds of best quality mango and other fruits from the northern region.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments