Inside the 'fiery' fish market

The retail seller at Khilgaon Railgate Fish Bazaar would not reduce a dime from the asking price of Tk550 for one kg of rui. It was a comparatively large fish which, the elderly customer said, would cost around Tk350 a kg a few months back. 

"Tk350 per kg now sounds too meagre an amount even for a medium sized rui. The katla, even an average one, has gone up to Tk450," said the man with a long, white beard. Other customers around him looked equally frustrated. 

The reality is that ilish, one of the few joys of our lives, have gone beyond our capacity. The price of meat has also shot up, leaving only deshi fish and eggs as our main sources of protein. 

However, for the last several months, the egg market here has become one of the priciest in the world, and now, the price of fish has increased sharply in local bazaars. 

All kinds of deshi fish - pabda, chingri, taki, katla, rui, you name it - have gone up by Tk150-Tk200 per kg. Not only in Dhaka, it has happened in district bazaars as well. 

What drove the fish market beyond our reach, which apparently has no links to foreign wars that other price hikes are often attributed to? 

From our interviews with over a dozen fish farmers and insiders, it seemed the rising fish prices have a climate link alongside feed price hikes, poison fishing, untimely rain, syndicate and destruction of natural habitats. 

"Because of climate change, it didn't rain at the right time this year. As a result, in baishakh month when fish are reproduced in natural water, there was no water. This year, there was drought. There was sporadic rain but it dried up again eventually," said Rajon Paul, a fish farmer based in Netrokona who farms pabda fish in six acres of land.  

"Fish are not available in their natural habitat. The natural reproduction of fish has been hampered due to lack of rain," he added. Lower supply and higher demand pushed up the price. 

Besides the natural decline, insiders say the production cost for farmers has also increased, which impacted the market. 

A fish farmer named Sohan Mondol told us that feed prices are constantly increasing, but the price of fish has not increased at the same rate. 

Rajib Hossain, another farmer from Mymensingh's Trishal, who raises pangas fish, said retail fish price depends on the production cost incurred by the farmers. 

"Suppose you need 2 kg of feed to raise 1 kg of pangas. If you look at the feed price at the moment, the least priced one is Tk52 to Tk55 per kg. The feed for smaller fish is priced even higher," he said.

"A 70-piece-kg sized pangas' feed is priced at Tk70 per kg. So, we start with Tk70, end with Tk55. It means we are spending over Tk100 on average.   Besides, we have leasing costs, cleanliness of water has a cost, there is labour cost, night guards and medicine costs. The production cost at the end turns out around Tk110. In previous years, it was Tk80-Tk90, and before that, it was Tk70-Tk80," he further explained.  

Rajib said the cost of raw materials have also increased for those who make homemade feed. "The corn that we bought for Tk15 taka now costs Tk30. Tk40 to Tk45 worth shutki (dried fish) now costs Tk90."  

"This happened after the government imposed an import ban on meat bones. As a result, you cannot make homemade feed for less than Tk48, which was Tk38 last year, and Tk28 the year before," he went on.  

The pabda fish Netrokona's Rajon produces is sold around Tk300 per kg, which, if you scout in Dhaka markets, is sold around Tk500-Tk550 per kg. So, there is a role of middlemen too. 

A market insider named Rahat Khan said, "it is true that production costs have increased, feed prices have also increased. But the farmers get very little in proportion to the price of fish in the retail market. The middleman and retail traders take most of the profit." 

Shaik Hossain, a farmer, said that they work for three to four months and if it costs Tk100 to Tk110 taka to produce one kg of fish, they sell it in the market for a maximum of Tk125.

"There is also transport cost, so we get Tk10 per kg. This is the highest profit, but those who buy from the wholesale market and those who sell it in the retail market earn Tk40 to Tk50 more. Our profit is very limited," he said.  

Some farmers also mentioned poison fishing, hybrid fish in natural habitats, and use of Chinese nets as reasons behind lower supply of fish and thus its higher price.  

"In our area, the poison is known as a gas tablet, which contains aluminium phosphide. I can name one, Rajtox for example. When they are used in natural habitats, the fishes die and rise to the surface. The entire fish habitat perishes," Rajon said. "Besides Chinese double nets catch the mother fishes, impacting natural breeding."