Traders and businessmen are expecting the price of onion to decline in the local markets as the prices onion Indian market showed signs falling in certain cities Tuesday.
Local wholesale onion markets will cool down as an impact of the decline of onion prices in the Indian market which is now $551 per tonne, Vice President of FBCCI Md Helaluddin told the The Dhaka Tribune Tuesday.
He also said the supply of locally produced onions will increase because of the traders’ fear of falling prices in the kitchen market.
“I advised the chairman of Trading Corporation of Bangladesh to buy onions from the local market and sell them for Tk10 less per kg which will cool the local markets,” he also said.
Khandoker Babul, an agricultural goods importer, told the Dhaka Tribune that the number of Indian trucks carrying onion into Bangladesh had increased in the last two days to about 40 trucks a day.
“Just two days ago there were only 15 trucks coming in, but usually it is 150-200 trucks,” he said.
Wholesale onion prices fell from Rs4,700 a quintal last week to Rs3,251 on Monday in Asia's largest onion market in Lasalgaon, Maharashtra. Markets in Agra, Delhi, Mumbai and Indore also saw the same trend. Retail prices fell by Rs5 and Rs10 per kg in Agra and Delhi.
At present, in Taka prices, per kg onion is selling for Tk52 in New Delhi while in Kolkata Tk81, Katmandu Tk78.84, Bangkok Tk62.25, Yangon Tk54 and Colombo Tk107.78.
Sources in the commerce ministry said there was a possibility Indian onions will be smuggled to Bangladesh because of the price fall in the Indian market and the price of onions being fixed at $650 per tonne for Indian exporters.
Big farmers and onion traders will bring their stock of onion in the wholesale and kitchen markets from storages, sources in the commerce ministry said.
A kilogram of onion was being sold for Tk80 Tuesday at the Kadomtoli kitchen market in Farmgate, a price hike of 43%, and has remained at this level for the last four days.
Commerce Secretary Mahbub Ahmed told the Dhaka Tribune it was a good news for Bangladeshi onion consumers and the local price of onions will also go down.
“We have planned to import onion from abroad through TCB which is supposed to arrive in September,” he said.
“For a long term action plan, we will talk to the agriculture ministry about cultivating onion in the rainy season which is now widely practiced in several states of India,” the secretary said.
