Onion prices shoot up to record high

Onion prices in kitchen markets have hit a record high for this year, despite government promises and measures to keep them down.    

Indian onions were selling for Tk 130 per kg while the local ones for Tk 120 in kitchen markets in the capital.

In September, the rate for both varieties of the cooking ingredient was Tk 50.

The Daily Star found the scenario visiting the markets in Karwan Bazar, Tejturi Bazar, Farmgate and Shewrapara areas.

However, onions were a little cheaper at the wholesale market in Karwan Bazar.

Indian onions were being sold for Tk 110 per kg, local onions Tk 107 while the ones from Myanmar for Tk 90 a kg, said traders.

They said demand for the Indian and local onions were high at the market.

Talking to this newspaper, Kalam Sheikh, a wholesaler, said prices of Indian and local onions had jumped to Tk 120 and Tk 140 per kg in 2013, but the rates went down after a day or two.

The traders said prices of Indian onions started to go up since the third week of September due to a short supply. It impacted prices of the other varieties of the cooking ingredient.

In September, India announced a ban on export of onions with immediate effect, after extended Monsoon downpours delayed harvests and supplies shrivelled.

Last month, Dipankar Ghosh, port organising secretary of the Bhomra Clearing and Forwarding Agents, said onion prices jumped in Indian wholesale markets since the third week of September, resulting in a hike in the import cost in Bangladesh.

The price restriction heated up the onion market in Bangladesh as the country meets a portion of its annual demand through imports because of inadequate domestic production.

Traders earlier said onion production also suffered locally because of rains during harvesting season.

The surging prices raised concerns among consumers. Later, state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh began selling the tuber at Tk 45 per kilo through five mobile vans in Dhaka.

The scale of the operation, however, was too small to make an impact in the market, said a trader at Shyambazar, a major wholesale market for onion in the city.

The spiral in price continues despite a commerce ministry official -- after a meeting with traders on September 19 -- said the government’s measures and adequate supply in the market would bring down the prices within 24 hours.

The government took several steps, including imposing fines through mobile courts for selling onions at high prices. In face of the measures, the prices went down a little, but started increasing again recently.

Mohammad Abdul Mazed, general secretary of Shyambazar Onion Wholesalers Association earlier, said they expected that the prices would drop.

“But what can you do if prices shot up at the source of supply? If prices of onions rise in India, the prices go up here too,” he added.