Ruma Akhter, an employee of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, could not believe her ears yesterday when a trader at the capital's Karwan Bazar asked Tk 104 for a kilogram of onions.

"The price shocked me when I heard it," she said.

She bought onions for Tk 70 per kg a month ago.

"How come the price of onions went up by Tk 34 per kg in a month?" said Ruma, the only breadwinner of her three-member family.

Visiting Karwan Bazar, Shewrapara, Ibrahimpur, Kochukhet, and Mirpur-11 kitchen markets yesterday, The Daily Star found that the retail prices of onions have surged by Tk 10 to Tk 20 per kg within a week.

The essential cooking ingredient was sold for Tk 100-120 a kg yesterday, up from Tk 90-100 last week.

Traders claimed that the prices increased due to supply shortages.

Sajib Sheikh, proprietor of Matri Bhander at Karwan Bazar, said they are getting small supplies from Faridpur and Pabna, two major onion producers.

"The drop in supplies are leading to the price hike," he said, adding that he is now being forced to sell Indian onions.

Mohammad Majed, general secretary of Shyambazar Onion Traders' Association, said the prices of all varieties of local onions increased over the last one week due to the supply crunch.

"We are currently importing onions from India where the prices are high," Majed, also an onion importer, told The Daily Star.

He said the cost of imported onions stands at Tk 90-95 a kg after calculating import taxes, transportation and other costs.

Md Shamsur Rahman, senior agricultural marketing officer in Pabna, said the supply of onions is not adequate.

"Farmers have adequate stocks of onions, but they are selling in small quantities, causing the prices to go up," he added.

Meanwhile, the prices of almost all vegetables have also increased by Tk 10-40 per kg in the capital's kitchen markets over the last one week.

Traders attributed this price hike to supply shortage due to incessant rains.

Yardlong beans were sold for Tk 100-120 per kg yesterday, up from Tk 70-80 last week.

Bitter gourd was sold for Tk 80-100 per kg yesterday against the previous week's price of Tk 60, spiny gourd Tk 100 per kg against Tk 80 a week ago, and aubergine Tk 80-120 per kg against last week's price of Tk 60-100.

The prices of sponge gourd, papaya, snake gourd, bottle gourd and ash gourd have surged by Tk 10 per kg during the same period.

Suman Miah, a vegetable trader at Karwan Bazar, said crops were damaged in different parts of the country due to incessant rains in the last few days. This led to a fall in supplies, causing the prices to rise, he added.