The government has decided to import another 30,000 tonne of onions ahead of Ramadan, says Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi
"The government has initiated measures to control prices of daily essentials during Ramadan. Decision has been taken to import another 30,000 tonne of onions and tenders will be called in a couple of days," he told the media at his residence in the northern district of Rangpur on Friday (Jan 31).
The minister said the Trade Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) would sell the onion across the country throughout the year to prevent a price hike.
“Strict monitoring is undergoing to bar unscrupulous traders from creating an artificial crisis,” he said before warning of legal actions against them.
Assuring of no price hike during Ramadan the Rangpur-4 lawmaker said, “As many as 30,000 tonne of edible oil, and large quantity of chickpeas and sugar will be imported 15 days ahead of the holy month.”
Prices of onions skyrocketed in Bangladesh when India banned its export of onions in September last year with immediate effect. Onion prices crossed Tk 250 a kg in local markets.
Bangladesh is much dependent on India to import onions.
India exported 2.2 million tonne of fresh onions in the 2018-19 fiscal year that ended on Mar 30, according to a Reuters report.
During the same time, Bangladesh imported 578,111 tonne of the kitchen staple 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 onions 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.