Onion prices still high despite govt efforts

FT ONLINE

Despite the government's efforts, the prices of onion increased further by up to Tk 40 per kilogram in the city's retail market on Sunday.

The upward trend in onion prices continued for the second consecutive day even after the arrival of imported onion especially by air cargoes and the government's ongoing steps including open market sales and stepping up of its market monitoring.

With the fresh hike, the price of local onion rose to Tk 240-Tk 250 a kg at the retail level on the day against Tk 200-Tk 210 on the previous day.

Onion imported from Myanmar, Turkey and Pakistan were selling at Tk 170-Tk 180 and Tk 140- Tk 150 a kg respectively on the day which was traded at Tk 160-Tk 170 and at Tk 120-Tk 140 a kg on Saturday.

Visiting Shyambazar wholesale market on Sunday, the FE correspondent found that local onion was selling at Tk 200-Tk 210 a kg, depending on its quality and other varieties imported from Egypt, China, Pakistan and Myanmar at Tk 145-Tk 170 per kg.

Local onion was sold at Tk 185-Tk 190 a kg while other varieties imported from Egypt, China and Myanmar at Tk 130-Tk 160 a kg at the same market on Saturday.

A retailer named Kazal at Fakirapool Bazar told the FE that as the price of an imported variety of onion was still high, traders at the wholesale market demanded high prices of local variety on the day.

"We couldn't find the reason behind a sharp escalation in onion prices. The prices are still too high despite various initiatives taken by the government and the private sector to import onion," Md Abdul Jabbar, a private service-holder, said at Kaptan Bazar in the city.

The wholesalers at Shyambazar said the prices of local variety of onion will come down after some days when new variety will arrive in the market.

Preferring anonymity, a trader at the same market said that a section of profit-mongers have pushed up the prices of the local variety, cashing in on its short supply in the market.

Another trader, Md Atiur Hossain, suggested importing more onion to help cut and check the prices of local variety of onion.

However, the customers attributed the price hike of onion in the market to an insufficient number of government monitoring teams and a short supply of onion.

"The prices of onion will be stable in mid-November," Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi was quoted as saying. But the prices of onion are still high, they added.

They also called upon the government to take immediate steps to tame the prices of onion and other essential commodities.

Under its OMS programme, state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) is now selling imported onion at Tk 45 per kg in different places of the city through its designated dealers.

However, the government teams continued their drives to identify unscrupulous traders in Dhaka city.

The teams carried out drives at Kafrul and Cantonment areas of the city on Sunday and fined them around Tk 115,000.

"We will continue our drives until the prices of onion become stable," said an assistant director of the Directorate of National Consumers Rights Protection (DNCRP) who is involved with the monitoring team.

Meanwhile, legal action has been taken against some 5,000 unscrupulous traders under the country's existing consumer protection act, officials concerned said.

DNCRP continued with market monitoring and conducted its drives following the skyrocketing prices of onion in recent times.

Under its drives, DNCRP fined unscrupulous onion traders Tk 24 million for breaching the Consumer Rights Protection Act, 2009.