Amid the skyrocket prices of onions in local markets, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi has said prices of the kitchen incidents are likely to remain same till the last weeks of November.

The price will drop as soon as the locally produced onions will be available in the markets and after the scheduled imports takes place, he told the media at his office at the Secretariat on Monday (Nov 4).

Referring to India’s relaxing its ban on the export of onion in the parts of southern India, Munshi  said the ban is still in effect in regions from where Bangladesh mostly imports the onion.

 “We are negotiating with India to withdraw the ban,” he added.

Munshi said that several business conglomerates including S Alam Group, City Group and Meghna Group would import around 12,000 tonnes of onion soon.

“Myanmar continues to export onion regularly. Locally-produced onions will hit the market by the end of this month. These factors may stabilize the onion market for the time being,” he added.

The minister dismissed the allegation of artificial price hike by selling onion at Tk 110 a kg against an import price of Tk 40 a kg.

Munsi said, “As import of onion is duty free and the customs released the onion consignments by setting an estimate price, actual cost of imported onion can’t be assessed at once.

“The officials concerned have been instructed to find out the actual cost [of importing onion],” he added.