For 66-year-old Rahima Begum, even buying a whole chicken has become a luxury.
Instead, she returned home with only chicken gizzards and liver after finding the price of broiler chicken beyond her reach. Like thousands of low-income families across Bangladesh, she is making painful compromises as years of stubborn inflation collide with fresh food price shocks triggered by flooding.
“I could not afford the chicken. A broiler chicken now costs Tk200,” Rahima told TIMES of Bangladesh while cleaning the gizzards and liver outside her home in Dhaka’s Korail slum. “There is my son, his children and a newborn grandchild in the family. My daughter-in-law is ill, and my son works outside Dhaka. Even at this age, I still have to do the shopping. This is all I could afford for today’s meal.”
Her struggle reflects a broader reality unfolding across the country.
After nearly four years of persistently high inflation, Bangladeshi households are now facing another blow as floods across the Chattogram region disrupt the supply of food, driving up the prices of fish, vegetables, eggs and poultry.
The renewed price surge comes against a backdrop of mounting uncertainty in global energy markets following conflict in the Middle East and concerns over the Strait of Hormuz, further fuelling fears that inflationary pressure may persist.
UNICEF has warned that rising prices of essential commodities could push another 12 lakh people below the poverty line, threatening to reverse fragile gains in poverty reduction.
Survival replacing choice
The pressure is perhaps most visible in Korail, one of Dhaka’s largest informal settlements, tucked beneath the glittering skyline of Gulshan.
Here, cooking is no longer about preparing nutritious meals but about stretching every taka.
Rickshaw puller Md Usman said even fulfilling his son’s modest request for fish on a Friday had become difficult.
“My son wanted fish or meat today. But prices have gone up so much that I could not even buy a whole rui. Half a fish cost me nearly Tk400. Then I still have to buy rice and spices. There are more rickshaw-pullers than passengers these days, and we no longer earn what we used to.”
The hardships described by residents are echoed in academic research.
A 2025 study by the University of Dhaka, Implications of High Food Inflation on Food Security in Urban Slum Households in Bangladesh, examined 704 slum households and found that among families previously considered food secure, 46 per cent became mildly food insecure, 21 per cent moderately food insecure and 12 per cent severely food insecure during periods of high food inflation.
The research found many households switched to less nutritious food, borrowed money to survive and, in some cases, withdrew their children from school.
For many Korail residents, cooking fuel has become another burden.
Frequent gas shortages have forced many households to abandon piped gas altogether and rely on firewood, which now sells for Tk20 per kilogramme. Residents estimate an average family requires three to four kilograms each day.
Firewood seller Rafik said, “We sell more wood than before because people cannot rely on gas anymore. They have no alternative.”
The hardship extends beyond the dinner table.
At around 5pm, eight-year-old Julekha’s grandmother sat quietly beside an empty stove. Nothing had been cooked since morning because the family could not afford to keep a fire burning throughout the day.
From Korail’s narrow alleyways, Julekha watches children travelling to schools in Banani’s private cars every morning. Yet poverty has made her own attendance at a JAAGO Foundation school increasingly irregular.
Floods tighten supplies
While households were already struggling with high living costs, the latest floods have delivered another blow.
Large parts of the Chattogram region remain under water after days of heavy rainfall, causing widespread damage to crops, fish farms and livestock. The disruption has sharply reduced supplies reaching wholesale markets, pushing prices higher across Dhaka.
Visits to Karwan Bazar, Merul Badda, Uttar Badda and Malibagh kitchen markets on Friday found shoppers struggling to cope with the latest increases.
Traders blamed flood damage and transport disruptions for the sharp rise in prices.
Fish prices, already elevated for more than a month, have climbed further.
Rui, which sold for Tk350 to Tk380 per kilogramme last week, now costs Tk400 to Tk450.
Tilapia and pangas have risen by Tk20 to Tk30 per kilogramme within a week, selling for Tk240-Tk260 and Tk220-Tk250 respectively. Consumers said they had never seen farmed pangas sold at such prices.
Freshwater prawns have increased by around Tk100 per kilogramme, while medium-sized farmed pabda now sells for about Tk450.
Mohammad Sumon, a fish trader at Merul Badda market, said lower arrivals at wholesale markets had pushed up prices throughout the supply chain.
“When fish is scarce at the wholesale market, we have to pay more. Naturally, retail prices also increase.”
Wholesale trader Sabbir at Karwan Bazar said premium varieties such as prawns, pomfret, shoal and large rui had always remained expensive because they were mainly bought by wealthier customers.
Not all buyers, however, accepted the explanation.
Surya Alam, a customer at Merul Badda market, believed some traders were exploiting the floods as an excuse to inflate prices artificially.
Another shopper, Sabuj Islam, said ordinary families were reaching breaking point.
“It is becoming increasingly difficult for people like us to survive.”
Vegetables, eggs and poultry follow suit
The upward pressure is not limited to fish.
Brinjals that sold for Tk70-Tk80 per kilogramme last week now cost Tk100-Tk120, while bitter gourds have increased from Tk60-Tk70 to Tk90-Tk100.
Ridge gourds, snake gourds, sponge gourds and yardlong beans have recorded similar increases, while bottle gourds now sell for Tk80-Tk90 each, compared with Tk60 only a week ago.
Green chillies have jumped by Tk40-Tk60 per kilogramme.
Rahim Sagar, who transports vegetables from Chattogram to Dhaka, said floodwaters had significantly reduced supplies.
“The floods have damaged production, so much less produce is reaching Dhaka.”
The losses are equally severe for farmers.
Khalid Rahman, a vegetable grower and trader from Chattogram, said he feared heavy financial losses after floodwaters inundated his fields.
“I cultivated brinjals and potatoes on 30 acres of land,” he said. “I expect substantial losses. Many other farmers are facing exactly the same situation.”
Poultry prices have also climbed, with broiler and Sonali chicken increasing by Tk20-Tk30 per kilogramme.
Egg prices have risen just as sharply. A dozen eggs that sold for Tk120-Tk130 last week now costs more than Tk140. Some supermarkets were charging Tk144 a dozen, compared with Tk120 only two weeks earlier.
For families already forced to cut back on meat, fish and nutritious food, the latest price increases leave even fewer options.
