Eid holiday leaves Dhaka’s kitchen markets quiet amid buyer shortage

Dhaka is now largely empty due to the long holiday of the holy Eid-ul-Azha. As a large part of the city dwellers have gone to their villages to celebrate Eid with their families, a kind of silence has descended on this busy metropolis.

Its impact has clearly been felt in various raw markets in the capital. While in normal times, the markets are bustling with buyers and sellers as soon as the dawn breaks, a completely different picture is now visible.

Shopkeepers are spending their time idly as the presence of buyers has decreased in many markets. Many traders have not opened their shops due to lack of sales. In some places, a desolate silence prevails throughout the entire market.

Vegetable, fish and meat shops in particular are not as crowded as before. Even the few buyers who come to the market quickly return after buying essential products.

Traders say that due to the reduced presence of people in the capital during the Eid holiday, trading has also decreased a lot. As a result, the markets have become much more lifeless compared to other times of the year.

Such a scene was seen when I visited some raw market areas in Shantinagar, Malibagh and Khilgaon areas of the capital on Friday (May 29) morning.

On other Fridays, where people are crowded from morning, this time it was a completely different scene. There was silence throughout the market, empty streets and the sighs of waiting of the vendors.

A temporary raw market was sitting on the side of the road from Shantinagar to Malibagh intersection as usual. On a normal day, bustling trading starts from dawn. But on Friday around 9am, it was seen that except for a handful of shops, nothing was open in the entire area. Although one or two vans of fruit sellers were seen, the presence of buyers was very low.

Mohsin has been selling bananas in this area for a long time. Every day, he comes to Dhaka from Narsingdi late at night with bananas. But this time his expectations were not fulfilled. He said that there are no buyers in the market as most people go to their villages during the Eid holidays. As a result, sales have also decreased a lot.

The same is the case with mango seller Md. Sumon. He has been doing business in this area for eight years after coming to Dhaka from Tekerhat in Madaripur. He said that even though the mangoes were arranged since morning, they were not sold as expected. He said that the market will be crowded again when people return to Dhaka.

The same picture was seen at the fish market in the Khilgaon Railgate area. Usually, where the crowd of fish traders and buyers starts before dawn, not a single shop was found open on Friday morning. The entire market was empty. Market watchman Shirina Akhter was sitting next to the closed shops and guarding them.

He said that he has been guarding this market for more than a decade. The market has practically closed as traders have gone home for the Eid holidays. So, his job from morning now is only to look after the shops.

According to market people, such a picture is seen in the raw market of the capital almost every year around Eid. As a large number of people from Dhaka go to their villages during the Eid holidays, the normal activity of the city decreases a lot. This affects retail businesses, temporary shops and raw markets. Especially small vendors who bring products from different areas in the early morning are the most in crisis during this time. Their sales and income have dropped significantly due to the decrease in customers. Many traders are bringing less products than needed, while some are not opening shops at all for fear of losses.

However, traders are hoping that once the Eid holidays are over and people start returning to the capital, the markets will regain their previous hustle and bustle. They expect that as the number of customers increases, trading will also return to normal.