Reading TCB's daily market prices: ranges, units and comparisons

TCB’s daily price list is the best-known official record of what everyday goods cost. A few points make it far more useful when you shop.

TCB and its daily list

The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) is a state body under the Ministry of Commerce, set up on 1 January 1972. Its job is to stock some essentials and sell them at affordable prices when needed, to help keep prices steady.

Every day TCB posts an Excel file of retail prices in Dhaka city on its website. Its list of 4 November 2026 names seven markets surveyed: Mirpur-6, Mohammadpur Town Hall, Malibagh, Rampura, Mohakhali, Hatirpool and West Agargaon.

Low and high prices, and units

Each item has a lowest and a highest price, showing how much it varies between markets, shops and grades. Coarse rice at Tk 50–55 means it sold for between Tk 50 and Tk 55 a kilo across those markets.

Watch the unit:

• Loose and packet are listed apart: on 4 November loose atta was Tk 48–50 a kg and packet atta Tk 65–70.
• A bottle’s price is for the whole bottle: a 5-litre bottle of soybean oil was Tk 1,000, so Tk 200 a litre; a 1-litre bottle was Tk 204.
• Other units: eggs and lemons per hali (four), milk powder per 1 kg pack, steel rod per metric ton.

A price of 0 means the item wasn’t found in the markets that day, as with imported onions on the 4 November list.

Comparing with last week, month and year

TCB’s file puts the prices of a week, a month and a year ago beside today’s, with the monthly and yearly change in percent, worked out on the midpoint of low and high. From the 4 November 2026 list (taka):

Local onion’s midpoint is Tk 50, against Tk 105 a year ago: about 52% lower. The foot of the file notes which items rose or fell over the week, and when.

bdrate.fyi’s today’s market prices page updates from TCB’s list daily, showing the price a week and a month ago beside today’s; each item’s page has a chart.

Why prices move

• Season and harvest: a Prothom Alo report of November 2025 explained that onion prices rise every November–December as farmers’ stocks run low; that year rain also hurt the early crop. Hence last year’s high price.
• Imports and the dollar: imported goods follow world prices and the exchange rate. In early September 2026 the government raised bottled soybean oil’s maximum retail price from Tk 199 to Tk 204 a litre, citing world prices and import costs.
• Ramadan and Eid: demand rises for some goods, such as chickpeas, dates and sugar before Ramadan.
• Supply shortfalls: rain, floods or blocked roads move perishable prices fast. In September 2026 bdnews24 reported green chili had hit Tk 360 a kg the month before; on 4 November TCB listed it at Tk 80–160.

TCB goods on the family card

Through dealers, TCB also sells some goods cheaply to low-income families with a family card. Under the Ministry of Commerce’s September 2026 guidelines, each cardholding family can buy:

Five kilos of rice are also due, subject to allocation. Cards go to very poor and low-income people, such as the landless, day labourers and farm workers: one per family, with a national ID and a mobile number in the holder’s own name. Reports on the guidelines said about 59 lakh cards had been cancelled over irregularities.

Using it when you shop

• Treat the range as a guide, not a fixed price. In September bdnews24 found coarse rice at Tk 56–58 a kg in Mohammadpur while TCB said Tk 50–55.
• Compare in the same unit: divide a bottle or packet price by its litres or kilos.
• Look at a few weeks’ trend before a big purchase. The list covers Dhaka only; prices in other districts can differ.

Sources

• TCB: daily retail market prices (list of 4 November 2026)
• TCB: history and vision and mission
• Prothom Alo: Why onion prices soar every November-December
• The Business Standard: Bottled soybean oil price rises Tk5 to Tk204 per litre
• bdnews24: does TCB’s list match market prices? (Bengali)
• Bhorer Kagoj: new rules for TCB cards (Bengali)
• Ekushey Television: who will get TCB cards (Bengali)