Why is fresh fish sold by the govt not in high demand?

On a recent Friday morning, a freezer van of the state-run Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation (BFDC) pulled in at Dhanmondi-15 on Satmasjid Road.

A variety of fresh fish lay inside the van amounting to approximately 100 kilograms. And every day, the freezer van sells these fish at this spot. 

One of the employees opened the van's door and inside, the thermocol boxes were stacked - these were full of around 20 varieties of fish covered with ice chips.

Mohammad Shahjahan, a private service holder and a resident of Dhanmondi-14, came to buy one kilogram of chanda for Tk1,120 and one kilogram of kachki for Tk560. 

"I come here because they do not mix chemicals with the fish. I used to buy fish from local markets but they were usually of poor quality," said Shahjahan, who has been buying fish from here for the last two years. 

Most of the time he buys rui, baila, chanda, chingri, mola and bain fish. In the past, he bought fish from Mohammadpur Town Hall but now he comes straight to this spot in Dhanmondi. He said the fishes from the corporation's van also taste very good. 

There are 16 spots in Dhaka where 10 freezer vans regularly sell fresh fish from rivers and haor, beels and the Kaptai Lake. But the demand remains quite low. 

Every year, the corporation sells 150 to 200 tonnes of formalin-free fish in Dhaka.

One of the main reasons behind it is consumers are not aware of this service and another is in comparison with local markets, the price is slightly higher. According to the regular van customer, Mohammad Shahjahan, the price of these fresh fish is hardly Tk1 or Tk2 higher than local fish markets.

Mixed reviews: Of price, quality and variety  
 
About 30 metres away from the corporation's van selling spot in Dhanmondi-15, there is a makeshift fish market on the footpaths. This one remains crowded in the mornings, especially on Fridays.  

Kazi Mahbubur Rahman, who was born and raised in Dhanmondi has never bought fish from the corporation's vans. He always buys them from the makeshift market. 

"I feel the price is higher there [at the corporation's vans]. The price is even higher than super shops like Shwapno, let alone regular fish markets," he said.    

A retired professor, who did not want to be named, came with his wife to buy fish at the Dhanmondi-15 spot. He said he always comes here because the quality of the fish is satisfactory. "There is no crowd, which I like. You will get varieties of fish here too. I think the price they ask is fine," he said. 

However, he did not agree that the price of the corporation's fish is higher than local markets. In fact, he observed that the price of fish fluctuates every day and he thinks the corporation's price is reliable.  

"One day I went out to compare the corporation price with that of local fish markets and they are almost the same. As it is a government initiative, we can put our trust in it," said the professor who comes twice a month to the corporation's selling spot.  

The demand-supply imbalance 

The corporation's Dhanmondi-15 Sales Inspector Faisal Kabir comes at 9 in the morning and stays there for four hours, he said people from all income groups do not come here.

Every day they bring 120 kilograms of fish and can sell between 100 kilograms and 110 kilograms. They take back the rest and keep them in the corporation's freezer. 

"The customers who want to eat something better come to us because the price of our fish is a bit higher," said Faisal Kabir. "We have permanent customers who do not buy fish from outside."

The state-run company sells fish in nine more places in the capital including Eskaton Garden, Parliament Building, Gulshan and Mirpur. The demand for corporation's fish is low in all of these places.    

The office of the Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation (BFDC) collects these fish from different haor and baor. There is fish from the Kaptai Lake as well but it is not always available. 

When asked whether he believes the amount of only 100 kilograms of fish sold every day at Dhanmondi-15 is quite low, Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation's Director (Marketing and Purchase) Manzur Hasan Bhuiyan admitted indeed it is.  

"I think people should buy more fish from our freezer vans because these are healthy and fresh," he said, adding, "I think those who buy fish from local fish markets are not always aware of quality. We never sell rotten fish."  

The Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation director of marketing and purchase also said they have the capacity to sell 10 tonnes of fish in Dhaka city daily. But now they are selling less than one tonne due to low demand. "we cannot sell more than this. As ours is a corporation, we have to think about incurring losses," said Manzur Hasan Bhuiyan. 

He said they run a campaign during Fisheries Week and distribute leaflets, but consumers do not come to these freezer vans. 

He added customers find comfort in buying fish from local markets because they can also buy vegetables and other daily necessities from the same place- possibly another reason behind the low demand for the corporation's van fish. 

New plan to increase the number of freezer vans

Though the sale of fish is low, the corporation wants to scale up the market. Manzur Hasan Bhuiyan said that they are planning to add five new freezer vans to sell fish to new areas in the city. These areas include Baridhara, Uttara and Bashundhara. 

"We want to extend the market to popularise our brand among Dhaka residents. We want to provide more customers with fresh and healthy fish at their doorsteps," he said.   

But is the corporation incurring loss? He said although the company is not incurring a loss, it is also not making a lot of profit. "We believe it is the responsibility of the corporation to provide the people with fresh fish. For this reason only, we are running the business," said the director.    

Sourcing the fish and setting the price 

Manzur Hasan Bhuiyan said that Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation (BFDC) cultivates fish in Kaptai Lake. Other than that, based on the sale, the company usually purchases 1,200 kilograms of fish daily from its regular sellers at haor, beels and rivers.

"In most cases, we sell river fish and we try not to sell farmed fish," he informed us. 

"There is definitely a difference in price. If someone sells a fish for Tk10 in the regular fish market, we sell the same fish for Tk10.5," he said, adding, "you might get two rotten fish among 10 fishes bought from local markets but we cannot do it. We will have to give you all 10 fish fresh."