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What workedA couple making balachao at home in Bashila, Dhaka, in a Prothom Alo report · Started in 2021

Costing 800-1,000 taka a kg to make, selling at 1,200-1,600

Balachao made at home since 2021 costs 800-1,000 taka a kg to produce and sells at 1,200-1,600. Output is 15-20 kg a day, and monthly sales have risen from an average of 3 lakh taka last year to 6-7 lakh.

After losing money in the leather trade during COVID, this couple in Bashila, Dhaka, began frying dried shrimp into balachao at home in 2021. They now make 15-20 kg a day at a production cost of 800-1,000 taka a kg and sell it at 1,200-1,600 - turning a cheap raw ingredient into a packaged ready-to-eat product is where the margin sits. Monthly sales have gone from an average of 3 lakh taka last year to 6-7 lakh. Another maker in Narayanganj who started the same year now turns out 20-25 kg a day, 600-800 kg a month. His stated problem is raw material: the price of dried shrimp swings between 450 and 520 taka a kg, and there is no contract that fixes it.

Lessons

  1. 1.The margin is in turning a cheap raw ingredient into a branded ready-to-eat product: 800-1,000 taka of shrimp sells at 1,200-1,600
  2. 2.Dried-shrimp prices swing between 450 and 520 taka a kg; no contract fixes that, so it has to be built into the costing

Published with the person's permission, without revealing who they are.

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