Onion prices likely to be fixed on Monday.

The onion prices have soared due to rise in import costs, said officials, adding that the government is worried about such price hike of an essential just ahead of Ramadan.

They, however, alleged the traders are charging much higher than import cost. According to them, a kilogram of imported onion from India costs Tk35 in total while the retailers are selling it at Tk45.

“We are a bit concerned of onion price hike in local market as the traders are selling it at Tk45 per kg when the overall import cost stands at Tk35,” said a senior commerce ministry official who is also involved with market monitoring.

Commerce Ministry is set to hold a meeting on Monday with the traders to fix prices of onions, lentil and gram which are mostly consumed during Ramadan in the country.

The ministry sources said onion price might be fixed at Tk40-42.

But the government cannot arbitrarily fix prices as per open market policy.

Meanwhile, an intelligence report suggests Indian onion price should not be fixed at above Tk40 per kg as import through Bhomra land port costs not more than Tk25 per kg.

The apex trade body FBBCI’s vice-president M Helal Uddin told the Dhaka Tribune that the prices of onions will be stable in local market before Ramadan.

He said floods in India has hit the supply chain of onion to Bangladesh.

“The onion import from India is taking now five to six days to reach Bhomara land, which has increased the costs of the importers,” Helal Uddin said.

More than 50% of onions in local market is imported from India, and most of Indian onions are produced at Nashik of India’s Maharashtra and Patna of Bihar, according to the sources.

Department of Agricultural Extension Department estimate 1.4m metric tons of onion are produced locally every year in Bangladesh.

Source : dhakatribune.com