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Badamtali a wholesale fruit market in dhaka developed on the bank of the river buriganga on a wide area from Badamtali to Wizeghat. In 1935, Mr. Hasan Ali Dali and four or five other traders started using this place for wholesale trade in fruits. Until 1971, local seasonal fruits and some other fruits from West Pakistan were sold here. After independence, many changes have taken place in the market structure. New traders have started coming in large numbers for fruit trade in the market and the size of the market started to increase day by day. At present, there are approximately 250 adatdars operating in the market. They transact business mainly through intermediaries. Both local and imported fruits of various types are sold in the market. India is the largest source of imported fruits, which include oranges, apples, grapes, pomegranates and mangos. Other sources of import are Bhutan (oranges), Dubai (date, raisin, walnut, pistachio and monacca) and Pakistan (grapes). In addition, apples are imported from Australia and America in large amounts. Fruits are transported from India and Bhutan in trucks while fruits from other countries are imported through ships and airplanes. In the past, the fruits market at Badamtali suffered from lack of storage facilities, but now substantial improvement has taken place after development of cold storage plants at Badamtali, Tikatuli and munshiganj. Fruits are traded in the market on a wholesale basis. Usually apples are sold in boxes (each containing 20 kg), grapes in cartoons (each containing 4 kg) and other fruits on the basis of weight (kg). The daily sales turnover of fruits in the market is between Tk 15 million and Tk 20 million. [Md Masudur
Rahman]
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