Dhaka, March 14 -- Sales at the Amar Ekushey Book Fair have touched a new low this year, with a publishers' collective reporting a staggering 80 percent decline compared with previous years.

At a press conference held Saturday at the Kabi Shamsur Rahman Seminar Hall of Bangla Academy, Publishers' Unity described the situation as more "deplorable" than even the 2021 fair held during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The organisation noted that while political and economic instability had already caused a 60 percent dip in sales in 2025 compared with 2024, this year's figures represent a near-total collapse of the market.

Presenting the grim statistics, the unity claimed that nearly 90 percent of participating publishers failed to recover even thei...