Also reality of hilsa market :
a) its an extremely nitche market. You CANNOT market this fish to 90% of regular fish eaters like goans, mallus or indonesians/malays/omani arabs etc - all the people who eat shit ton of fish, coz its an extremely bony fish and has a very strong fishy smell to it that is off-putting to those who are accustomed to eating fresh white-meat warm water fishes only ( like Filipinos, indonesians, etc). Furthermore, Hilsa bones are not to be trifled with- even the finest of these bones are like little slivers that can easily get stuck in your throat or gums.
b) Hilsa is extremely prized amongst ALL bengalis - bangros included. It is a semi-luxury item ( Hilsa is easily, the #1 prized fish in any Fish market that sells Hilsa. Chitol can occasionally be pricier, but they are extremely rare big ones and for one cut only(stomach, the rest of the cuts of Chitol are very cheap, coz chitol is mai-baap of hilsa for bony-ness but even oiler around the stomach).
So when largest consumer-base of a semi-luxury item is ALSO the largest exporter of this semi-luxury item, it means that Bangbros THEMSELVES cannot afford to eat their catch substantially and they rely substantially on exports.
c) The most expensive Hilsa is the Hilsa that is sold fresh- by far, since fresh Hilsa can easily top 3000 rupees/kilo even at height of season for particularly large and egg-less hilsa.
Frozen Hilsa doesn't top 1000-1500 rupees per kilo ( ie, it rarely crosses 10 dollars/kg in Murricastan or Canadastan, the top markets for frozen hilsa for price, as Middle-east is slightly cheaper for frozen hilsa).
d) overseas frozen Hilsa market is pretty much tapped out, as Hilsa is not a steak or biriyani type of thing that you eat every single day as a glutton bong- Hilsa is time consuming to eat and requires 'roshiye khaoa' mentality, plus Hilsa isnt a terribly versatile fish like Rui or Katla are - you can only make 3-4 variation dishes of it and its something you only wanna eat, even as hilsa lover, like three-four times a week, max. Then you want change. Most Bheto bangalis here dont buy more than 2 hilsas per month for their families of 3-4 and they aint hurting for cash at all.
All this means, is that whatever the bangbros wanna say, Hilsa is a 'i got you by the balls' buyer's market.
A bengali wont die if he cant eat Hilsa. but plenty of kanglustanis will go broke if he cant sell hilsa.
Yes, bengalis are 'ore more jacchi' if thye cant get Hilsa, same way whites go bat-shit if they cant get alcohol and we suck for that aspect of it, but overall, it only does cosmetic change to the buyer's market dynamics.
Barring 'unforeseen sudden shocks', its very rarely the buyers who are at a disadvantage in a 'buyers market' industry. This isnt a weapons like 'sellers market' where you got clients aplenty and you are shuffling them off by years coz your production cant keep up and every tom dick and harry wants a piece of the pie like the kanglus think it is.