Onion prices witness downward trend

FT ONLINE

Onion prices at the wholesale market and retail outlets have shown a downtrend on Wednesday after the government took multiple steps including immediate import of onion to stabilise the local market.

Wholesale sellers were selling local onion at Tk 68 to 72 and Indian onion at Tk 62 to 65 on Wednesday, according to trading sources at Shyambazar, the big hub for wholesale onion.

In the retail market on Wednesday, local varieties onions were being sold at up to Tk 110 and Indian onion was being sold at Tk 95 to 100.

On Tuesday, the Indian and Burmese onion varieties were sold at Tk 110-120 a kg. The local varieties were sold at Tk 120-130 a kg.

Shahidul Islam, a wholesale seller at the city’s Shyambazar, said that onion price of some Burmese and local varieties declined as supplies in the market increased.

Besides, the trader's sales onion with decreased prices as sales in the local market as onion sales were seen downtrend after the price was almost double in retail market. He pointed retail traders for manipulating onion prices despite sufficient supply and export ban from India. 

He predicted further market volatility unless higher imports are ensured.

Earlier, Bangladesh Tariff Commission member Shah Md Abu Raihan Alberuni said that the country has 0.3 million tonnes of onion in stock to meet the demand for the next two months. 

Besides, substantial amounts of onion are also being imported from Myanmar and the process is underway to import from Egypt and Turkey.