DOT Desk
With the rising biting cold of the winter, sales of warm clothes increased manifold in city markets, bringing a boom for the traders, reports The Daily Sun.
Customers from all classes of life are crowding the makeshift shops to malls to buy winter clothes according to their needs and capacity. Cashing the high demand for warm clothes, traders are charging higher prices for making quick profits, customers alleged. Areas and markets like Bongo Bazar, New Market, Noorjahan Market, Baitul Mukarram, Dainik Bangla, Farmgate and Mirpur-10 were seen packed with customers in the last few days.
Most of the buyers were seen buying blankets, sweaters, jackets, blazers, shawls, caps, socks and other items to remain warm during the winter that may continue for the next two months.
Riyadh Islam, who was shopping for warm clothes at a city market, said he came to the market to buy warm clothes for his entire family as the weather is becoming colder every day.
“Winter is becoming chilly and every one of my family needs to have warm clothes. I bought warm clothes for all my family who lives in my village in Dinajpur,” he said while buying clothes from Bongo Bazar, one of the city’s most popular spots for shopping for warm clothes.
Nahian, who was looking for a blazer at the cloth sores in Elephant road, said the sudden fall in temperature created the necessity for warm clothes.
Visiting different markets in the city on Friday, it was seen that blankets are also high in demand.
Meanwhile, many customers are unhappy with the higher price of the blankets than previous years.
“It is true that price is a bit higher due to the abrupt rise in demand,” said Sabur Ali, a warm cloth trader at New Market.
Average locally-made single size blankets are being sold at Tk 500-1000 per piece in the city and imported blankets are being sold at Tk 1000-1200 each.
Besides, imported family-size blankets of good quality are being sold at Tk 2,000 to Tk 5,000 each, according to sellers.
People across the country experienced light rain, along with chilly wind, since Monday as the impact of the cyclonic storm ‘Phethai’ that formed over the West-central Bay and the adjoining South-western Bay.
Monthly outlook of Bangladesh Meteorological Department office, forecasted that one or two mild-to-medium cold waves may sweep over the country in the last week of December.
The Met office also said the temperature may plummet as low as 6°C in northern, north-eastern and central parts of the country during the period.
It also forecasts that potential fall in night temperature, which may fall by 1-3°C, and day temperature may rise by 1-2°C across the country.