Onion imports will remain suspended during the harvesting season to ensure fair price for local producers, says Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque.
“Onion price drops during harvesting season leaving farmers disappointed. The ministries of commerce and agriculture decided to stop imports in a joint meeting,” he told the parliament on Thursday (Jan 16).
Around 23 to 24 tonne onion is produced by local farmers against an annual demand of 30-32 tonne, Razzaque said during the question-and-answer session.
"Last year's price spike was triggered by excessive rainfall and India's ban on exports,” he said claiming the prices were stable now.
The government has taken steps to boost production this year, said the agriculture minister before assuring no crisis this year unless there is a natural disaster.
Prices of onions skyrocketed in Bangladesh since India banned its export of onions on Sept 29 last year with immediate effect. Onion prices crosses to Tk 250 a kg in local markets.
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.
In a bid to tackle the crisis, the government started open market sales across the country and imported the kitchen staples from, Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan and Myanmar.
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 last year, 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 tonne, followed by India 22.42 million tonne, USA 3.73 million tonne, Iran 2.37 million tonne, Egypt 2.37 million tonne, Russian Federation 2.13 million tonne, Turkey 2.13 million tonne, Bangladesh 1.86 million tonne, Pakistan 1.83 million tonne and The Netherlands 1.77 million tonne.