John Baroi, a businessman from the capital’s Manipuri neighborhood, came to the Karwan Bazar fish market to buy hilsa this Thursday morning. He plans to buy at least 10 kg of hilsa. After bargaining for hilsa according to the size, he took 10 hilsa of one kg size at the rate of 1 thousand 100 taka per kg.

After buying hilsa, John Baroi told Prothom Alo, “Even if the price is a little high, once the season ends, you won’t be able to get such fresh hilsa anymore.” Then maybe one or two places will find hilsa in cold storage. But it seems to cost more. I took a little more for this. I bought hilsa twice before, but in less quantity. But this time the price of hilsa has not decreased in the whole season.

The government has imposed a ban on catching, transporting, storing and selling hilsa from tomorrow Friday to October 28. The blockade will start from 12:00 PM today. At this time, catching hilsa will be considered a crime, and even if selling hilsa, the traders will come under the law. The last day of the season is Thursday in the market so the number of buyers was higher than other days, there was a kind of concern among the sellers. They are trying to sell the stocked hilsa today. However, the price has not decreased. The supply of hilsa in the market is not very high, and hilsa has completely disappeared from the market, not so much.

The capital’s Karwan Bazar and Mirpur No. 2 and Kazipara area markets have been visited, starting from 300 grams to 2 kg of hilsa. These hilsa were sold from 350 taka per kg to more than 2 thousand taka. Among them, hilsa of 700 to 800 gram is 800 to 850 taka per kg, hilsa of 900 gram to 1 kg is 1 thousand to 1 thousand 150, 1 kg of hilsa of 200 to 300 gram is 1 thousand 200 to 1 thousand 400 and hilsa of 1.5 kg to 2 kg is sold. From 1,600 to 2,000 have been sold.

However, the demand for medium hilsa has been seen in the market. Many are buying big fish. Since many hilsa have eggs in their stomachs at the end of the season, many buyers have been seen looking for hilsa eggs separately in the market. However, the demand for hilsa without eggs in the stomach is high.
Ahmad Ali, a hilsa seller in Karwan Bazaar, told Prothom Alo, “The supply of hilsa in the market is good as of the last day. And there are three minded fish; Hopefully, all will be sold. But we expected more buyers to come. As many people came to the market in the morning, a little more will come in the afternoon. Because, as it is a working day, many people could not come to the market yet, they will come in the afternoon. So in the afternoon some cars of fish will also enter the market. Today is the last day, continuous shopping will continue till 12 midnight.

Abdur Razzak came from Mugda in the capital to buy hilsa at Caravan Bazaar on Thursday morning. He said to Prothom Alo, “I wanted to buy big hilsa, but because the price was high, I bought two hilsa of 600 to 700 grams – 750 taka per kg. I did not find Padma Hilsa. Bholer called them hilsa, I don’t know how it will be. But after today, hilsa will not be available that way. I bought a little more for that, it can be kept in the fridge and eaten.

On this day, Bhola and Barisal hilsa were mostly seen in the market. A couple of sellers sold it as bholar hilsa, but did not gain the trust of buyers. The sellers said that Padma hilsa is less available now. Besides Bhola and Barisal, Hilsa of Chandpur was also seen in the market. Meanwhile, even though the season is over, the price of hilsa is not reduced, but hilsa is still beyond the reach of many people. On the last day, Hilsa will be available at a slightly lower price, but many people came to the market and returned disappointed. Some people came to buy big hilsa and bought small hilsa. Many also bought Jatka.