Inflation hits fish, meat, and fruit sales

Rising food prices and concerns about overall inflation in the country have continued to affect the commodity market.

Consumers, mainly middle and low-income ones, are buying less fish, meat and fruits these days, according to traders.

Zakir Hossain, a retail fruit vendor in the capital's Eskaton area, said, "I have been selling fruits for 8 years now. My sales have halved in the last 15 days."

"Earlier, 100 green coconuts were sold every day. Now it takes 3-4 days to sell that much. My daily fruit sale amounted to Tk15,000 on average, which now stands at only Tk5,000 to Tk6,000," he said.

"People don't have enough money to spare on fruits nowadays as the prices of other essential items such as rice, lentils, and edible oils have gone up," he added.

Asgar Ali, a wholesale fruit seller in the Badamtali area, echoed the same sentiments. "I used to sell 300-500 kg of pomegranate a day to retailers, which now stands around 150-200 kg," he said in a gloomy tone.

Delwar Hossain, a wholesale chicken trader in Dhaka's Kawran Bazar, told TBS, "Around 300 chickens were selling daily in the pre-pandemic time. Even last month, I could sell an average of 150-200 chickens a day."

"The situation has turned worse, now it is very difficult to sell even 100 chickens a day. Consumers are leaning towards vegetables or eggs by reducing meat intake," he added.

Shukkur Mia, a beef seller in Kawran Bazar, said he used to sell 3-4 cows a day till Ramadan, but now his sales declined by half.

"Average consumers are avoiding beef, even the hotel and restaurant owners are also buying less due to low demand from their customers," he said, adding that the bustling beef market in Karwan Bazar has now become sort of desolate.    

"If the downturn continues, I may have to find some other business to do after the Eid-ul-Azha," the beef trader added.

Nazrul Islam, a fishmonger in Hatirpool Bazar, said, "People have been buying less fish since the 10th of this month. I used to sell 200-250kg of fish daily. Now the sale came down to 100-150kg only."

"Most people are struggling financially due to various issues including inflation, floods and the pandemic. Everyone except the upper class has now reduced their purchases. Our sales have halved," he added.

Mohammad Hashem, a consumer in Karwan Bazar, said, "People's income has not increased as much as the living cost did. I am cutting back on beef and trying to get by with just rice and vegetables most days. Fruits are expensive, where can I get extra money to buy fruits?"

The product list of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) showed that the prices of coarse rice increased by 32%, fine rice by 28%, coarse lentil pulses by 63%, sugar by 32%, bottled soybean oil by 55%, loose soybean oil by 83% from February 2020 to February 2022.

According to a survey conducted between 31 March and 5 April 2021 by the NGO Brac on 2,675 low-income people in 64 districts of the country, the rate of extreme poverty has increased by 60%. Around 14% of people have no food at home. A large number of day labourers, construction workers and rickshaw pullers are among them.

People's income has fallen by 20% during the Covid-19 period. Those whose income was Tk19, 425 in March 2020, came down to Tk15,492 in August, according to another survey conducted between March and October 2020 by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS),

Sayema Haque Bidisha, a professor of economics at Dhaka University, told The Business Standard, "People are living in a greater crisis than what the BBS data suggests. At present, the prices of essentials in the country's market are abnormal."

"To overcome this situation, the government needs to allocate more to the social security sector. TCB trucks should be present in remote areas so that low-income people can buy essential commodities at low prices," she added.