Onion prices remain high despite raids

Onion prices did not come down despite raids by the authorities in different wholesale and retail markets across the country.

Yesterday, the locally-grown onion was selling at Tk 196 to Tk 220 per kg and the Indian onion at Tk 160 to Tk 170, said Mohammad Babul Mia, a retailer in the capital's Kawran Bazar, one of the biggest kitchen markets in the capital.

Onion prices shot up by more than Tk 100 per kg to Tk 240 overnight following India's announcement of an export ban on the vegetable from December 8 to March next year.

India is a major source of the key cooking ingredient for Bangladesh.

At an event in the capital yesterday, Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh expressed his shock, saying, "How could the price of onion increase by Tk 80 per kg and rise to Tk 200 in a matter of one day?"

To rein in the spiralling prices, 43 teams of the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection conducted raids all over the country and fined 80 establishments a total of Tk 3.7 lakh.

Several teams of the Detective Branch of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police are working on the field in Chawkbazar and Shyambazar areas to keep the market under control, said the DB chief Harun Or Rashid in response to a reporter's question at his office in the capital's Minto Road yesterday.

"If anyone hoards onions to sell them at high prices, we will bring them under the law," he said.

But the initiative had little effect so far.

For instance, the wholesaler Babul was selling the local onions at Tk 200 a kg even yesterday.

Since Saturday, each kg of onion has been selling for Tk 180-220 in Pabna, ‍said a retail trader.

Last week, each maund (37.3kg) of onion sold for Tk 4,000-4,500. Now, it is more than Tk 7,000 a maund, said Rabiul Islam, a wholesale trader.

Over in Dinajpur, a kg of onion was selling for Tk 210 to Tk 220, up from Tk 90 a kg on Friday.

Govt to import onion

The government has taken the initiative to import some 52,000 tonnes of onion from India against the LCs that were opened earlier before the ban was slapped by the neighbouring country in a bid to curtail the price of the kitchen essential in local markets, Commerce Ministry Senior Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh told BSS.

The Ministry of Commerce has already sent a letter to the Bangladesh High Commission to take the necessary action in this regard.

"We've taken various initiatives to keep onion prices under control. Efforts are also on to increase the import of onion from alternate countries. Alongside, the sale of onion will continue through TCB among the low-income group," he said, adding that the concerned deputy commissioners have been asked to monitor the sale of onion at a rational price in the districts.