Onion price shoots up

The price of onion shot up to Tk 50 a kilogram in the city’s kitchen markets in two days due to a sharp increase in wholesale prices of the item.

The price of onion increased by 66.67 per cent in the retail markets in two days as the item was selling at Tk 30 a kg on Saturday. 

Traders said that the wholesale prices of onion jumped to Tk 40 a kg from Tk 20-22 a kg on Sunday and they (retailers) have been forced to sell the item up to Tk 50 a kg.

‘Wholesale prices of onions witnessed a sharp hike on Sunday but it decreased on Monday. The prices of perishable items are always unpredictable,’ Narayan Chandra Saha, proprietor of Nabin Traders at Shyambazar in old Dhaka, told New Age on Monday.

He said that the wholesale price of the local variety of onion was increased to Tk 40 a kg while imported item was sold at Tk 32 a kg in Shyambazar on Sunday.

Narayan said that the wholesale prices of local onion decreased by Tk 7-8 a kg on Monday and it was wholesaled at Tk 32-33 a kg in the market.

He said that the prices of onions were fluctuating mainly due to supply shortage of local onions and price hike of the item in India.

According to Narayan, import price of onion was Tk 30-32 a kg at Bhomra land port on Sunday.

Meanwhile, retailers said that the price of local variety of onion increased by Tk 20 a kg in the last two days and the item was selling at Tk 45-Tk 50 a kg in the city markets.

The price of imported onion increased by Tk 10-15 a kg and it was retailing at Tk 35-45 a kg on Monday.

According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh data, the prices of the local variety of onions increased by 47.27 per cent while the price of imported item increased by 46.15 per cent.

Commerce ministry has estimated that the yearly demand of onion was 24 lakh tonnes, of which Bangladesh produced nearly 18 lakh tonnes and rest of the demand is met by import.

Meanwhile, prices of other items also soared.

The prices of garlic increased by Tk 10 a kg in the last two days and the item imported from China was retailing at Tk 150-160 a kg while its local

variety was selling for Tk 120 a kg in the city’s kitchen markets.

The prices of ginger increased by Tk 20-30 a kg and local variety was selling for Tk 150-180 a kg and the imported variety for Tk 180-200 a kg on Monday.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net