The price of onion has decreased due to the start of importation. Daily Star Bangla

Onion prices fell in various parts of Bangladesh yesterday, a day after India allowed onion import.

According to Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) data, domestic onions were sold at Tk 80 to Tk 90 per kg on Monday. Which is 10 taka less than Sunday’s retail price.

The onion market has become volatile as the prices of domestic varieties rose by 81 percent last month. However, the Ministry of Agriculture decided to import onions to restore stability in the market.

AHM Shafikuzzaman, director general of the National Consumer Protection Directorate, claimed that the price of onion has decreased by Tk 10 per kg after getting permission to import. This suggests that a section of traders are manipulating the market for higher profits.

He said, ‘We requested the Ministry of Commerce to allow import a month ago to keep onion prices under control. If allowed then, consumers would have suffered less.’

He said, ‘The benefit of the high price is not the farmers, but the traders.’

Shafikuzzaman said, ‘Since the harvest season is almost at the end. So the farmers do not have much stock of onions. Rather, the traders have manipulated the market by hoarding it.’

The largest onion production in Bangladesh is in Pabna. The farmers of this district claim that the wholesalers of Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet are responsible for the unstable onion market.

Onion grower Kamruzzaman of Durgapur village of Sujanagar upazila in Pabna said, ‘The big businessmen of these regions try to control the wholesale price of onion. They buy onions through local agents until they have enough stock.’

He further said, ‘When most onions are in their stock, they start manipulating the market.’

Tapan Kanti Ghosh, the senior secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, said, ‘A group of unscrupulous traders have taken the opportunity to increase the price of onion for the past one month. Imports will continue until the market stabilizes. If the price of onion comes down to Tk 50 per kg, we will control the import.’

Wholesale traders of Dhaka, Pabna and Chittagong said that after Sunday’s announcement, the price of onion has decreased by Tk 250-300 per maund.

Mohammad Majed, the wholesaler of Shyambazar in the capital, said that although onion was sold at Tk 3,400 to Tk 3,600 per maund on Saturday, now it is being sold at Tk 3,150 to Tk 3,300.

He claimed that the price of onion will decrease further if low priced Indian onions come to the local market.

This businessman said, ‘After paying all costs, the price of imported Indian onion will be around 20 rupees per kg.’

An official of the Ministry of Agriculture said that on the first day (June 5), the government approved 210 applications for the import of 280 thousand 800 metric tons of onions.

Dipankar Ghosh, organizing secretary of Bhomra Clearing and Forwarding Agents, said that 330 metric tons of onion from India arrived at Bhomra land port yesterday.

Recently, when the price of onion has increased in the country’s market, the Ministry of Commerce wrote a letter to the Ministry of Agriculture on May 14 requesting permission to import onions.

The government stopped the import of onions from March 15 to ensure fair prices for local producers.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, the annual demand of onion in Bangladesh is about 2.5 million metric tons.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, domestic production this year was about 3.4 million metric tons. But, due to lack of storage facilities, about 25 percent of onion produced in the country is wasted. As a result, the country still needs to import about 6.5 million tonnes of onions.