In the wake of onion export price hike in India, a two-member delegation yesterday left Dhaka for Myanmar to find out possibilities of importing essential items including onion quickly to maintain stability in the local market.
A two-member delegation headed by an Additional Secretary (WTO cell) of the Ministry of Commerce AmitavaChakradorty will also discuss with the Myanmar authority about the smooth supply of onion from that country, so Bangladesh can reduce dependency on Indian onions.
The other member of the delegation is Chairman of Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) Brigadier General A K M Iqbal.
A high official of the Commerce Ministry told the Dhaka Tribune that the government wanted to import the items from other neighboring countries to reduce dependency on a particular country.
“But, it is not possible to import onion from Myanmar right now because of the ongoing massive flood as the onion price in Myanmar is also in a rising trend,” he said.
Earlier, Senior Commerce Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon said his ministry would send a delegation to Myanmar to find out the possibility to import onion from Myanmar.
Bangladesh imports 6 lakh tonnes of onion from India each year while a small volume of it comes from Myanmar through unofficial channels.
India recently fixed the export price of onion at US$350 per tonne from $150. As a result, the price of the item in Bangladesh went up to Tk75 per kg at the retail level.
Prices of onion in the city’s large kitchen markets Karwan Bazar and ShamBazar- are in between Tk55-65 per kg.