Photo : Collected
Seasonal juicy fruit watermelon was sold at Tk 80 to 90 per kg in different markets of the capital last week. Immediately after this, the price of watermelons marked decrease. As a result, the price of the juicy fruit has come down to Tk 60 to 65 per kg this week. Buyers are of the view that the price has decreased due to the recent boycott of watermelon. If it continues like this, according to them, the price will decrease further.
Watermelon is one of the favourite fruits for fasting people in Iftar. But in recent time, the country’s fruits market is unstable even marking the holy month of Ramadan.
While the prices of dates, guavas and other fruits are skyrocketing, watermelons were being sold in kilograms and that too priced around Tk 100.
In such a situation, buyers from different parts of the country started boycotting watermelon purchase, which resulted in watermelon’s decreased volume of sales in the market.
The per kg of watermelon, which was sold at Tk 80 to Tk 90 last week, is now being sold at Tk 60 to Tk 65 albeit amid the buyers’ low turnout.
The sellers, however, said watermelons are coming from different parts of the country to the market of the capital. It increased the supply of watermelon and reduced the price. Still, not enough buyers are found in the market.
Also, they said the reason for the high price of watermelon is that now only striped watermelons are available in the market.
Hence, the watermelon prices are now slightly higher due to extra cost on the way and labor cost. However, the prices started falling from Friday.
On the other hand, consumers said that due to the boycott, the price of watermelon has started to decrease. The price will come down by Tk 30-40 per kg only if the buyers unite and temporarily stop buying this perishable product.
A buyer named Sohel said that if consumers boycott buying watermelon, the price will come down. If you do not buy, to whom will the businessmen sell! Then they will be forced to reduce the price.
When asked about this, SM Nazer Hossain, Vice President of Consumer Association of Bangladesh (CAB), told The Daily Messenger that traders have been trying to sell watermelons as kgs in the market for the last two to three years. Campaigns have been conducted against it by the government at various times, but to no avail.
He also said that fruit traders have increased the price of all kinds of fruits by syndicate this Ramadan, like traders in other sectors. At the marginal level, a farmer gets the maximum price of Tk 60-70 for a medium sized watermelon. That watermelon can’t be Tk 400-500.
The middlemen have manipulated the price of watermelon so much. The government is repeatedly failing to deal with them. In this situation, consumers can resist the syndicate traders by boycotting the purchase of watermelon, he added.
Meanwhile, an agriculture-based startup company called Foshol.com started selling watermelons at Tk 200 per piece in association with Bangladesh Poultry Association (BPA) from Thursday in front of TCB Bhaban in the capital.
They will conduct this sale at 20 points in the capital as a joint venture throughout the season at Tk 200 apiece. If the market price falls, they will sell at a lower price.
At the opening ceremony of the sale programme, AHM Shafikuzzaman, Director General of National Consumer Rights Protection Directorate, said that there is no reason for the price of watermelon to be more than Tk 300. Traders should come forward to sell products at fair prices.
Messenger/Disha
