Wholesale and retail traders of the Hili land port in Dinajpur have remained reluctant despite the government's repeated warnings against the unfair price hike of the local variety of onions.
In the last two days, the price of onion has increased sharply at the Hili markets -- by Tk10-12 per kg at the retail level. The price stood at Tk80 per kg at Hili on Friday.
The alleged shortage of onion has also impacted the market in Dhaka.
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi on Friday once again asked traders to reduce the price of onion. He added that the government would import onions if the price did not come down within two days.
The onion importers agree with the minister that the prices are unbridled.
Haji Shahidul Islam, a famous onion importer from Hili, said: "Onion import from India has been stopped for more than two months. As a result, this price volatility has been created in the onion market. As long as it goes, the price will increase.
“It is not possible to meet the domestic demands with local onions. So there is no option but to import from India to provide price relief to the buyers.”
The retail traders of Hili Bazar blamed other traders for increasing the prices by showing the shortage of onions on the occasion of the import ban.
Yusuf Ali, a deputy assistant officer at the Hili Land Port Plant Protection Centre, said: “The government permitted the onion import from India till March 15 to ensure a fair price for the onion farmers. The imports stopped on March 16. No fresh decision has been taken on import as of yet.”