After the decision not to export to India, many people who went to the market are confused after seeing the information about the price of hilsa on social media. Many are also expressing disappointment with the high price of GI (Geographical Indication) products in Bangladesh.
From the virtual world to the real fish market, curiosity about the price of hilsa is visible everywhere. Sellers also have to face the questions of buyers.
Recently, Fisheries and Livestock Adviser Farida Akhtar, while explaining the government’s position on not sending Hilsa to India, said, ‘We apologize, but we cannot send any Hilsa to India. It is an expensive fish. We have seen that people of our country cannot eat hilsa. Because all are sent to India.’
However, even after not being exported, the buyers say that the price of the fish in the market is not within reach.
“Exports are stopped but the prices have not decreased, we come to the market from the middle and are disappointed,” Nargis Begum, a jobber who came to buy fish in Dhaka’s Hatirpool market, told BBC Bangla.
‘Facebook-YouTube comes to say that the price of hilsa is low, why do you want more? Our business is ruined…’, countered the seller Md. Kamal.
Those involved in the business say that for various reasons, the price of the ‘expensive fish’ in the words of the fisheries advisor is not coming down. One of which is supply shortage.
How is the price at any stage?
Those concerned said that the hilsa caught in the prison net comes to the buyer after three to five hands. The market also fluctuates on the variation of prices in these places.
On Tuesday morning, 3 to 400 grams of hilsa was sold for around 25 thousand rupees per maund in Chandpur market.
Like other fish, the price of hilsa increases with the weight. That is, the larger the size of the fish, the higher the price per kg.
Besides, fish sellers said that there is quite a difference in the price of fish caught from the sea-estuary and fish from the upstream of the river.
The price per kg of fish weighing about 1 kg is 1000 to 1000 Tk.
In other words, the fishermen get this price for each kg of fish, said Ibrahim Majhi, a fisherman of Meghna river in Bhola.
The price of a fish of that shape rises from 1 thousand 500 to 1 thousand 600 taka.
Which the consumer has to buy at a higher price of two to three hundred rupees.
Abdul Bari Jamadar, President of Chandpur Fish Traders Association, told BBC Bangla: “On Tuesday morning, one kilogram of fish was sold for Tk 60,000 to Tk 62,000.”
Going to the capital’s Hatirpool market, it can be seen that the sellers are charging up to 1 thousand 800 taka for fish weighing 900 grams to one kilogram.
Abdul Bari Jamadar said that hilsa is being bought and sold within this price for some time.
“In the last one month there has been a change of five thousand taka per mana. The price may go up and down by Tk 50-100 per kg,’ he added.
Jamadar also said that fish weighing 1 kg to 1.5 kg are being sold for 65 to 70 thousand taka per maund.
Due to which the price does not decrease,
the government announces a two-month fishing program every year from March 1 to April 30 to protect the country’s hilsa.
Fishing, transportation, sale and storage of hilsa in the sanctuary during this period is completely prohibited.
Then from May-June to mid-October is the hilsa harvesting season.
Traders consider this time as ‘peak time’.
Abdul Bari Jamadar, President of Chandpur Fishery Merchants Association, says that compared to previous years, the sighting of fish at this time is ‘very less’.
“In 2022, 1,200 maunds of hilsa used to come to our places every day, last year seven to eight hundred maunds came and this time two to two and a half hundred maunds are coming,” said Jamadar.
Gave dadan (advance money) for 40 trawlers this year. He claimed that even a single trawler has not caught enough fish so far. He said that he paid about five lakh taka for each trawler.
Fishermen are obliged to sell their fish through these suppliers. They get ten percent money as commission agents.
Other traders also say that if there is not enough supply, there is no chance of price reduction.
Another factor is the cost of fishermen and trawlers as well as business investment and other expenses.
The cost is not less in proportion to the sales, said Md. Yunus Mia, the dealer of Bhola.
“To sell fish worth 10,000 taka, it takes 6,000 taka,” he said.
Abdul Bari Jamadar said that one to one and a half million taka is spent to make each trawler depending on the shape. They are usable up to ten to twelve years.
As a result, it is important for them to sell the fish at a good price even if they want to raise the investment of trawlers.
Besides, some have also blamed the syndicate for the high market prices of the fish.
However, the fish traders are denying it.
‘We sell fish in an open auction. There is no opportunity for the syndicate, Abdul Bari Jamadar claimed.
He claimed that if the fish is caught in the fishermen’s nets, the price will come down by itself.
Hilsa fish contributes about 12 percent to the total fish production of Bangladesh. According to the information of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, its annual production has reached five hundred and seventy-one thousand tons.