Business Desk :
India withdrew its ban on onion export on Monday, nearly three and a half months after imposing it abruptly which saw the commodity’s price through the roof in Bangladesh, UNB reports.
Bangladesh will resume onion import through Dinajpur’s Hili land port on January 1 next, officials here said.
The decision was announced through a notification from India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Businessmen at the Hili port have confirmed the development. Onion prices jumped sharply in Bangladesh after India banned export of the popular kitchen item on Sept 14 on the pretext of local shortage and price hike.
The abrupt move pushed up onion prices in the Bangladesh market, forcing the country to import the item from various other suppliers to meet the demand.
Mobarak Hossain, an onion importer at Hili, said they received a letter from Indian traders around 10pm on the export ban withdrawal.
“They’re allowing onion export from Jan 1 but since it’s a weekly holiday, the import will begin from Jan 2,” he said, adding that they are preparing to open LCs. But since no price has been fixed, it is assumed that the onion will have to be imported within US$300.
“The prices will fall to Tk 20-25 per kg in the retail market once the imported onion hits the market,” Mobarak said.
Meanwhile, Hili port importer-exporter group President Harun ur Rashid said they would decide on onion import after meeting Indian traders.
“We had opened LCs for 10,000 metric tonnes before the export ban. We incurred heavy losses as India didn’t allow us to import onion despite repeated requests,” he said.
“Local farmers are cultivating onion on large scale now. We have to make sure that they don’t incur losses,” Rashid said.
