Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has slashed the price of its onion by Tk 10 a kg in a bid to stabilise the market amid the price hike.
TCB started selling onion at Tk 35 per kg instead of the previous Tk 45 from Monday (Dec 23) , said Humayun Kabir, secretary to TCB chairman.
TCB is, currently, operating open market sale at 50 spots in Dhaka, Humayun told Bangla Tribune.
A customer can buy only two kilograms of onion from the spots, he added.
When India stopped the export of onions on Sept 29, the prices skyrocketed to Tk 270 per kg. At that time, the government imports failed to improve the situation since several syndicates manipulated the market.
In a bid to control the soaring prices of the kitchen staple, the TCBhas opened sale of onions at Tk 45 a kg across the country from Oct 1.
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.