Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
Onion market has seen an abnormal price rise in the country for the last few weeks due to supply crunch.
The hike in the price of onions, however, brought tears in the eyes of the consumers, as the key staple ingredient for many Bangladeshi dishes is now costing more compared with the previous month.
Onion prices both in wholesale and retail markets have seen a sharp rise since last week of July. In the capital, retail price of onion is Tk 65 per kilogram (kg) due to short supply, market sources said.
They alleged that a section of unscrupulous businessmen are hoarding onion and trying to control market taking advantage of the seasonal shortage pushing up its prices both in wholesale and retail markets.
The wholesale price for imported Indian onion was Tk 51 to Tk 53 per kg on Tuesday, which was Tk 30 to Tk 35 per kg in the thirdHoarders take week of July. The price of local variety onions was Tk 40 to Tk 53 based on quality. It was sold at Tk 33 to 45 a kg last month, according to the wholesale traders in the city’s Shyampur market. The country’s annual estimated onion demand is around 2.4 million tonnes against local production of around 1.9 million tonnes.
The rest of the demand is met by import, mainly from India. “Onion prices are on the rise because of export control initiative taken by the Indian government. India has tightened onion exports to keep its prices stable in the India markets,” Hafizur Rahman, a wholesale trader in the city’s Shyampur area told The New Nation on Tuesday.
Besides, onion exporting nations, including India, have raised their export prices which also contributed to price escalation in Bangladesh.
He also mentioned that Indian traders used to export 100 to 150 trucks of onion per day last month, but, they reduced it to 70 to 80 trucks creating adverse impact on the price of the commodity in local market.
Brushing aside the allegation of hoarding, Hafizur Rahman said that none of their traders is involved with the hoarding and is abiding by the rules of the country.
When asked, he said, the market volatility is temporary and onion prices are expected to come down within the next few weeks with arrival of more trucks from India.
“A section of traders have reportedly been involved with hoarding to create an artificial crisis in the market,” a senior commerce ministry official told The New Nation on Tuesday on condition of anonymity.
He added: Big onion traders are under the intelligence watch. The government will act firmly if one is found involved with price manipulation.
The official, however, claimed there is sufficient stock of onion in the country as a result of bumper production.
“There is sufficient stock of imported onion also, and therefore, the price cannot go up without further hoarding,” he opined.
Admitting the demand-supply gap, he said, as local onion production being less than its demand, the price fixation depends on the volume of import.
