Onion price spiral on despite govt steps
Onion price continued to rise on Monday in the capital as elsewhere across the country defeating all the government initiatives to bring the essential commodity within the normal reach of the general consumers.
The price of the item on the day again reached Tk 250 a kilogram in the city markets in a matter of a week after the price had slightly gone down just for a couple of days.
The local variety of onion was selling for Tk 240-250 a kilogram while the imported Egyptian varieties for Tk 140-150.
Myanmar onions were retailing for Tk 200-210 while the Pakistani item for Tk 190-200.
Onions on the day almost disappeared from the small shops in the city’s kitchen markets while mostly large retailers were selling the costly item.
At the Karwan Bazar wholesale market in the capital, the supply of imported onions was found to be low and the local variety was still dominating the market.
The prices of onion shot up to Tk 55-65 a kilogram from Tk 23-40 in Bangladesh on September 14, as India fixed the minimum export price of the item at $850 a tonne on September 13.
On September 29, when India imposed a ban on onion export, the price hit Tk 120 a kilogram in Dhaka’s kitchen markets the following day, on September 30.
After the price spiral began the government started open market sale of onion through the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.
It also instructed the sea and land ports to release the imported consignments of the unavoidable cooking ingredient on a priority basis.
Commerce minister Tipu Munshi repeatedly assured that the prices of the item would come down within the final week of October.
Despite the government assurance the item’s price topped Tk 250 a kilogram across the country on November 15.
Country’s big business groups started to import onions from Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey by air following a government request.
After the government initiatives, the supply of onions started to improve in the market with the prices being slightly down but after two to three days the prices started to increase again from November 20.
Though the government-run TCB has meanwhile expanded the OMS of the highly essential commodity across the country, down to the district level, with onions imported by air, the initiative has failed to have little impact in the market.
Queues of fixed- and low-income people at the TCB outlets were getting longer every day to buy the item at Tk 45 a kilogram while the prices have been spiralling.
News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net
