Traders have informed that around 3,000 sacks of onions imported from Myanmar have become rotten in Teknaf. This has happened due to a delay in releasing the product.
But port authority is saying that this is being done to create an artificial crisis. Sources say that till Oct 13, 8497.11 metric tonnes of onions were released at the Teknaf land port and on Oct 13 last, 53,000 sacks (2080 metric tonnes) of onions were brought from Myanmar.
While large amount of onions has been imported, the price is not reaching a tolerable level.
An onion trader has said: “We brought some onions but due to delay in releasing, they have become spoilt.”
It takes ten days for trawlers in Myanmar to reach Bangladesh and Teknaf.
UNO Rabiul Hassan says: “Port authority has been asked to quickly release the onions and the matter is being looked into.”
To keep the market stable, a deputy secretary of the commerce ministry, Mohammad Jalal Uddin and a team of representatives went around the Teknaf land port and talked to the traders.
At the Khatunganj market in Chattogram, two agencies were fined for selling onions at double the import price by executive magistrate Touhidul Islam.
“We found that two agencies were selling onions which were bought at tk 42 per kg at Tk 70 and fined the agencies Tk 10,000 each. Traders have raised price on the excuse that low quality onions are being imported from Myanmar.”