Onion to be sold in open market from tomorrow

Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will start open market sales (OMS) of onion tomorrow in its bid to curb spiralling prices of the essential cooking ingredient, an official said today.

Consumers will be able to buy two kilogrammes of onion each from trucks to be deployed in front of National Press Club, Motijheel and Khamarbari. Two trucks might be placed at Jatrabari and Mirpur area, TCB spokesperson Md Humayun Kabir said.

“No decision has been taken yet regarding prices. But prices will be less than the existing market rate,” he said.

The move comes following a meeting at the commerce ministry yesterday after traders hiked the prices of the onion by 25 per cent or Tk 12.5 each kilogramme overnight to Tk 55-70.

The Indian authority slapped $850 (Tk 71,821) as the minimum export price for per tonne of onion on September 13 to contain the price hike in its domestic market.

Since then, traders hiked prices and some retailers in Dhaka city asked Tk 80 for per of onion, which Bangladesh has to import to meet a portion of its requirement for short of domestic production.

Yesterday, onion prices dropped marginally at the wholesale market at Shyambazar but edged up at retail level.