Rising price of onions has triggered an outrage among end-level consumers.
The Commerce Ministry, worried over the spiralling price, has asked wholesalers to supply the popular spice at less than Tk50 per kilogram.
This comes at a time when prices are hovering around Tk60-Tk75/kg in local kitchen markets.
Due to a supply shortage because of several day’s rain, yesterday, the price of Indian onion – bigger and sweeter than local breeds – rose sharply to Tk70 although it was only Tk60 a day before. However, local onion have been still selling for Tk40-45 per kilogram.
Another reason for the soaring prices of the imported onion is that the Indian government has recently increased the export price of the spice to $250 from $175.
Senior Commerce Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday: “We will definitely take action against the unscrupulous onion traders who have raised the price of onion without any reason.”
He also said that there is enough stock of the popular spice in the country and so people need to panic. “We will sit with the wholesalers on Sunday [today] to ensure a healthy supply in the local market.”
The ministry has decided to procure onion from Myanmar within a short time to ease price pressures on the local market, the secretary said.
The annual domestic demand for onion is 2.2 million tonnes, of which, 1.923 million tonnes are grown locally.
