The government could not stop the monopoly of syndicates in the onion market by making use of imports and mobile courts. But new locally grown onions are coming to the market and the prices are starting to fall.
A survey of the kitchen markets in the city shows that onions are selling at different rates.
Most of the onions in the market are from Myanmar and often, sellers are hoodwinking buyers by selling Myanmar onions as locally grown ones. Those who do not understand the differences in size and colour are being duped.
Myanmar onions are currently selling for Tk 100 to Tk 120 per kg. Egyptian ones are selling for Tk 70 to Tk 80. While Chinese onions are selling for Tk 60.
Local onions from Faridpur are selling for Tk 130 to Tk 140 per kg. Spring onions are selling for Tk 60 to Tk 80 per kg.
One importer at Shyambazar says that the markets have huge stocks of onions imported from Egypt and China.
“The prices of imported onions have fallen and we are selling them because once local onions come to the market, no one will buy these,” said the seller.
When India stopped the export of onions on Sept 29, the prices began to rise and reached Tk 260 to Tk 270 per kg. At that time, the government imports failed to improve the situation since several syndicates manipulated the market.
A similar sinister move was also made to raise the price of salt but the government prevented it.
As per Bangladesh Tariff Commission, the yearly demand for onions is 2.4 million metric tonnes and in 2018-19, the country produced 2.33 million metric tonnes. Since onions are degradable, 30 percent of the produced onions or 700,000 tonnes become rotten and so, around 800,000 to 1 million tonnes have to be imported.