A syndicate of traders has pocketed around Tk3,180 crore in the last four months by manipulating the onion market and prices.
Conscious Consumer Society (CCS), a consumer rights organization, made the allegation at a press conference at National Press Club in Dhaka on Sunday.
They also demanded that authorities set a fixed rate for the essential cooking ingredient to bring stability to the market and ensure prices do not increase any further than it already has.
Executive Director Palash Mahmud said onion prices in retail markets had gone up in recent times to as high as Tk150 per kg, the highest it ever reached in the history of the country.
Conscious Consumers’ Society (CCS) organizes a press conference titled 'Price anarchy by onion syndicate' at the Jatiya Press Club on Sunday, November 3, 2019 | Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune
"Onion are now selling by the hali (four pieces)," he said, adding, "It is now beyond consumer's capacity to purchase."
A research report by the consumer rights organization showed that the volatile onion market resulted in consumers losing Tk397.67 crore in July this year, Tk491.43 crore in August, Tk825.26 crore in September and Tk1,465 crore in October.
The report also said onion prices increased by at least 400% in the past four months (from July to October,) enabling the onion syndicate to bag an additional Tk50 crore from consumers.
Palash Mahmud said a syndicate of 13 individuals related to this was identified recently, but no action was taken against them yet. Even the prime minister acknowledged the role of syndicate behind the price hikes.
The organization presented four demands at the briefing, which included setting a maximum price for onion, creating a cell at the Department of Consumer Rights to ensure fair value of products and services, and conducting a drive against the syndicate similar to the recent casino raids.
File photo: People queue in front of a truck conducting open market sale (OMS) of onion at Dhaka's Khamarbari area on Tuesrday, September 17, 2019 | Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune
The production of local onion is 1.6 million tons against the country's annual demand for 2.4 million tons and the rest of which is imported. If a country stopped onion export, there was no reason for the local onion supply to fall, they argued.
"There can be no excuses from the wholesalers and retailers," Palash said, adding: "Consumers are cheated out of hundreds of crores of taka in the name of increasing costs."
On September 29, the Indian government banned the export of onion with immediate effect until further order in order to improve their domestic availability of onions.
Before that, the Indian government had fixed minimum export price of onion to rein in soaring prices in their domestic market.