Green chilli prices affected by soaring dollar rate

The production of green chillies falls from July to October. The yield of green chillies is not good this season due to bad weather. The market has to rely on imports until the fresh harvest in November. The price of imported green chillies is higher this year compared to that of the past three years.

Traders say that the price is high in Indian market. Besides, the price is soaring due to the surging dollar exchange rate. On the other hand, importers claim that local traders are responsible for excessive price hike in the retail market.

Analysing the price from 2020, it was found that the average price of green chillies remain between Tk 150 to Tk 250 per kg during July to August. The price went up to Tk 300 to 400 in some parts of the country, but the overall price remained bearable. Maximum price per kg has skyrocketed to Tk 700 this time.

Importers claim, the price of green chilli is high in India this season. Additionally, they are facing inflated costs for transportation, labour, and customs compared to previous years. The price of the dollar has surged by more than 20 per cent compared to last year. Despite the exchange rate of the dollar is fixed at Tk 109 currently, importers have to purchase the hard currency at higher price.

The government decided to import green chilli from India after the price of the kitchen essential surged past Tk 300. At that time, the land port was closed due to the Eid holiday which led to more price hike. Various agencies of the government started drives in various markets.

At that time, the importers stopped importing again for a few days. Panchayat elections in West Bengal also disrupted imports at the time. Following these, the price of green chilli did not come down yet.

Importer Kamruzzaman told Prothom Alo that green chilli is being imported regularly. But this time the price of green chillies in India is high while other costs also increased resulting in higher price in the domestic market.

According to the importers, the cost of importing one kg of raw chillies from India on Monday was Tk 160 to Tk 165. It was sold across the border at Tk 170 to 175. Yesterday, the wholesale price of one kg of green chilli was Tk 240 to Tk 280 in Karwan Bazar of the capital. The retail price of this imported green chilli is Tk 400 per kg. The price was around Tk 200 at this time last year.

During a meeting at his office on Sunday, AHM Safiquzzaman, the Director General of the Directorate of National Consumers Right Protection, acknowledged that there are certain understandable factors contributing to the rise in the price of green chillies.

These include factors such as rainfall, transportation challenges during Eid, and the temporary closure of land ports for holidays. However, despite these factors, there is still no valid justification for the significant rate at which the price of green chillies has escalated.

According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, Bangladesh imported 843 tonnes of green chillies during the first nine days (1 July to 9 July) of the current fiscal. In the previous fiscal of 2022-23, a total of 2,021 tonnes of green chillies were imported, while 7,467 tonnes were imported in the 2021-2022 fiscal.

The import permit for the last fiscal was 45,886 tonnes, whereas this year it has increased to 52,680 tonnes. Sources familiar with the matter anticipate that this year's import of green chillies will surpass that of the previous year.

*This report, originally appeared in Prothom Alo print and online edition, has been rewritten for English edition by Farjana Liakat