In a bid to control the soaring prices of the kitchen staple, the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) will open sale of onions at Tk 45 a kg across the country from Tuesday (Oct 1), a senior official says.
The move came a day after India banned the export of onions on Sunday (Sept 29), causing a surge in prices in local markets. Bangladesh is one of the top three destinations for Indian onions.
Prices first started to rise since floods hit one-third of Bangladesh in July this year.
“TCB will begin the sale of onions at Tk 45 per kilogram at 35 spots in the capital [Dhaka] tomorrow [Tuesday]. No one will be allowed to stock the domestic onions,” Commerce Secretary MdJafar Uddin told the media on Monday (Sept 30).
Besides, TCB dealers will also sell opinions at 10 spots in Chattogram and five locations each in the six divisional cities between 10am and 6pm daily, he said.
MONITORING OPINION PRICES
Amid the price of the essential commodity skyrocketing, the government has deployed monitoring teams across the country to check the onion prices.
As many as 10 monitoring teams will be deployed in onion-producing regions, especially Pabna, Faridpur and the northern part of the country, Secretary Uddin said.
“These teams will ensure so that no trader can stock onions to create an artificial crisis,” he said adding deputy commissioners of the respective districts have been directed to take measures in line with these teams’ operation.
ONIONS IMPORT TO CONTINUE
The senior government official said Bangladesh will continue import of onions from other countries despite India’s banning the export of its onions.
Bangladesh is much dependent on India to import onions.
India exported 2.2 million tonnes of fresh onions in the 2018-19 fiscal year ended on Mar 30, according to a Reuters report.
During the same time, Bangladesh imported 578,111 tonnes of onions from India, according to data compiled by India’s Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority.
Uddin said, “Two ships carrying onions arrived from Egypt and unloading has been started too.
“Onions from Turkey are being brought in besides the regular border trade between Bangladesh and Myanmar.
“Onions will also come from Myanmar through letters of credit [LCs],” he added.
Bangladesh consumes a higher quantity of onions than the country produces annually.
According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, the country's onion production in 2016-17 fiscal was 1.86 million tonne against the demand for 2.4 million tonne.
In August, the commerce ministry said that the country had 1.6 million tonnes of onions in stock and claimed that the quantity was good enough to meet the local demand.
Bangladesh is eighth on the Food and Agricultural Organization's (FAO) list of top ten countries producing onion.
China tops the FAO list with annual production of 24.28 million tons, followed by India 22.42 million tons, USA 3.73 million tons, Iran 2.37 million tons, Egypt 2.37 million tons, Russian Federation 2.13 million tons, Turkey 2.13 million tons, Bangladesh 1.86 million tons, Pakistan 1.83 million tons and The Netherlands 1.77 million tons.
The senior official, however, urged the people not to worry over the recent hike.
“The price spiral won't last long,” Uddin said.
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