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Rice prices rise by Tk 1-2 a kg in Dhaka as transport costs bite

Retail rice prices climbed over the past week in Dhaka markets after September's fuel price increase pushed up transport costs, with traders also citing costlier paddy and the end of the season. Rice is the staple for most households.

ScrollBeat DeskPublished: 17 Oct 2026, 23:32

Sacks of rice on sale at a retail outlet. File photo used to illustrate rising rice prices; it is not the Dhaka market surveyed. Photo: ProjectManhattan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) ProjectManhattan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Retail rice prices in Dhaka have risen by Tk 1 to Tk 2 a kilogram over the past week, adding to the strain on households already grappling with high living costs.

A survey of six kitchen markets - in Mirpur-1, Mirpur-11, Kazipara, Shewrapara, Ibrahimpur and Karwan Bazar - found prices up by Tk 1 to Tk 1.50 a kg, The Daily Star reported. The Financial Express found medium BRRI dhan-28 rice selling at Tk 65-66 a kg, up from Tk 63-64 a week earlier, while Paijam rice rose from Tk 60 to Tk 62-64.

Prices of the finer Miniket variety rose by Tk 2-3 to Tk 78-90 a kg, depending on quality, while coarse rice such as guti Swarna stayed unchanged at Tk 55-56 a kg.

Traders blame transport. The government raised the prices of diesel, petrol, octane and kerosene by Tk 20 a litre in the third week of September, and truck fares followed. A wholesaler at the Mohammadpur Krishi Market said moving a truckload of rice from Kushtia to Dhaka now costs Tk 24,000, up from Tk 20,000; other routes rose by Tk 2,000 to Tk 3,000 a truck.

Higher paddy prices and seasonal factors are also at play. Millers in Kushtia said paddy prices had risen to about Tk 1,240 a maund, up from Tk 1,120 in a month, and traders noted that stored rice ages while fresh harvests take time to reach shops - at least two more months, one trader estimated.

The Consumers Association of Bangladesh said the diesel adjustment could raise the cost of moving rice from Rangpur to Dhaka by up to Tk 0.40 a kg. Its secretary, Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan, called on the authorities to monitor rice mills and wholesale markets so that higher transport costs are not used as an excuse for excessive increases.

Some traders said the market was taking advantage of the moment. Sohrab Hossain, manager of the Janata Rice Agency at Karwan Bazar, said traders had used higher transport costs to raise prices after a long period of stability, and that there was no rice shortage in any district.

The increases are small per kilogram but add up for families. Momotaz Begum, who runs a meal service for about 30 people, said a Tk 1 rise had increased her monthly costs by about Tk 360. Zahidur Rahman, a courier employee supporting a family of six, said his household's 65 kg monthly rice bill had gone up by roughly Tk 65.

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Dengue kills 90 people in the first 16 days of October

Health directorate figures show 28,820 hospitalisations in the same period, after 148 deaths in September. Doctors blame late diagnosis and patchy use of treatment guidelines, and an expert warns cases may not fall clearly before December.

ScrollBeat Desk18 Oct 2026, 01:25Open this article

An Aedes aegypti mosquito feeding on a person. The species spreads the dengue virus; its larvae develop in stagnant water. Photo: US Department of Agriculture / Wikimedia Commons (public domain) US Department of Agriculture / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

At least 90 people died of dengue and 28,820 were hospitalised across Bangladesh in the first 16 days of October, according to Directorate General of Health Services figures reported by The Daily Star. That follows 148 dengue deaths in September, already the deadliest month of the year.

The monthly death toll has climbed steadily: 148 in September, 43 in August, 36 in July, 13 in June and one in May. Hospitalisations reached 43,774 in September, 20,536 in August, 9,206 in July, 20,907 in June and 714 in May.

A death review by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research, led by its director Prof Quazi Ahmed Zaki, found that more than one-third of the 119 patients it examined died within a day of being admitted. It found 62.5 per cent died from dengue shock syndrome, 31.2 per cent from expanded dengue syndrome and 16.1 per cent from dengue with bleeding, while 12.5 per cent died from other causes. Many patients also faced diagnostic delays of at least three days.

Medicine specialist Dr ABM Abdullah said repeated infections and delays in diagnosis and treatment were major factors behind the deaths, noting that people infected a second, third or fourth time face a higher risk of severe complications. He urged children and people with diabetes, hypertension, heart, liver or kidney disease, and cancer, not to ignore even mild symptoms, and warned against taking painkillers without medical advice.

Prof HM Nazmul Ahsan of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital said national dengue treatment guidelines were being applied inconsistently. He said a low platelet count alone does not necessarily require a transfusion, and that unnecessary transfusions and excessive fluid can themselves cause complications. He also called for more accessible testing, especially for low-income communities.

Public health expert Mushtuq Husain called for a three-tier dengue management system linking primary, secondary and tertiary care so that major hospitals are not overwhelmed. Entomologist Prof Kabirul Bashar of Jahangirnagar University said cases might dip slightly in November but a clear fall was unlikely before December, and that continued rainfall could prolong the outbreak.

Separately, The Business Standard reported that a DGHS bulletin on 11 October put the year's dengue death toll at 303, with cumulative cases close to 1 lakh. Health experts quoted by the newspaper stressed removing stagnant water and breeding sites, saying larvicide and source destruction work better than fogging alone.

NEXT STORY Bangladesh

Eighteen new railway coaches from India arrive at Saidpur workshop

The LHB broad-gauge coaches are the first batch of a 200-coach order placed through India's RITES. Bangladesh Railway will now inspect, test and commission them before they carry passengers.

ScrollBeat Desk18 Oct 2026, 01:25Open this article

LHB broad-gauge passenger coaches, the type Bangladesh Railway has ordered from India, seen here in a file photo of coaches in service. This is not a photograph of the 18 coaches that arrived at Saidpur on 17 October. Photo: Dewan Tirtho / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) Dewan Tirtho / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Eighteen new passenger coaches imported from India arrived at the Saidpur Railway Workshop in Nilphamari district at 4:00am on Saturday, the first consignment of a 200-coach order for Bangladesh Railway.

The batch includes 11 non-air-conditioned 'Shovon' chair coaches, three air-conditioned chair coaches, two air-conditioned sleeper coaches and two air-conditioned power cars. The power cars have a separate compartment for the guard and space for luggage.

The coaches were built at the Rail Coach Factory in Kapurthala, Punjab, and supplied through RITES Limited, an Indian state-owned transport consultancy, under an agreement covering 200 broad-gauge coaches.

Shah Sufi Nur Mohammad, divisional superintendent of the Saidpur Railway Workshop, said the incoming coaches had not yet been opened. A team of Indian experts will join the workshop's own workers, staff and officials for inspection and testing, he said. Once mechanical checks and trial runs are done, the coaches will be handed to the Traffic Department.

The coaches were described by The Business Standard, citing RITES and India's Ministry of Railways, as including reclining seats with stainless-steel armrests and footrests, a dedicated baby-care room, a prayer room, closed-circuit television cameras, a passenger alarm system, and partially openable windows. They are built for a 415-volt electrical system instead of the 750-volt standard used on Indian Railways, have reinforced roofs, and are designed to meet the European EN 15227 collision-safety standard.

India's Rail Coach Factory supplied 120 LHB broad-gauge coaches to Bangladesh Railway in 2015-16. The current order, placed in 2024 through RITES, covers seven variants of coaches and its deliveries have been reported to run into 2027.