Anisul Islam Noor :Due to supply shortage, prices of onion, the key kitchen item, would be unstable ahead of the Eid-ul Azha, the highest consumption season in the country.The country’s annual onion consumption demand is around 24 lakh tonnes while about 19 lakh tonnes of onion are cultivated locally and the rest is met through imports, mostly from India, traders said.The Indian government increased onion export price on July from $250 to $425 per tonne due to substantial damage to the onion production in the Rabi season which may impact the domestic market of Bangladesh. India is the main supplier of the key kitchen item, said Rabiul Islam, an importer of Moulvibazar in the capital on Tuesday.Mangager of Ahmed Enterprise in Jessore Tuhin Saha told this reporter that, “Even when we were importing onions at $255 per tonne, the prices ranged between Tk 22 and Tk 25 per kilogram at the land port depending on quality.”He added the hike would push up prices to Tk 60-65 and likely to destabilise the market further.”The decision by the Indian government to hike onion prices for the second time would raise our import costs, which would affect the local market,” said Milton Saha, an onion importer in Khulna.Onion market has seen an abnormal price rise in the country for the last few weeks Seeking anonymity, a trader said, a section of dishonest businessmen are making money by pushing up prices taking the advantage of the seasonal shortage before the Eid-ul- Azha both in wholesale and retail markets.The wholesale price for imported Indian onion was Tk 54 to Tk 56 per kg on Tuesday, which was Tk 30 to Tk 35 per kg in the mid of July. At present, local onion is being sold at Tk65 to 67 per kg while imported one at Tk 58 to 62 per kg.Tuhin Saha also mentioned that Indian traders used to export 100 to 150 trucks of onion per day last month. But now they reduced it to 70 to 80 trucks creating adverse impact on the price of the commodity in local market. It is alleged that some traders are hoarding onion to make more profit before the Eid ul Azha. But a businessman of Shymbazar Hafizur Rahman, refusing it 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,” said a Commerce Ministry official. 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 that 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 hoarding,” he opined.
