Welcome to Business Outlook
Related Articles
Traders blame short supply. Onion prices at kitchen markets shot up by Tk20 to Tk45 to Tk50 per kilogram in last two days, which the traders blamed on supply shortage.
Visiting kitchen markets in different parts of the capital, Dhaka Tribune found that per kilogram local onion selling at Tk45 to Tk50, which was Tk25 to Tk30 just two day ago.
The imported onion was found selling at Tk40 to Tk45 per kg, which was Tk25 to Tk35 per kg on Saturday.
However, Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) data show that per kg onion sold at Tk25 to Tk35 on Saturday, which stood at Tk36 to Tk50 yesterday, meaning a rise by Tk15.
Meanwhile, as of Monday five kg local onion sold at Tk220 and the imported one at Tk150, which was Tk150 and Tk120 respectively in the city’s Karwanbazar wholesale market.
Talking to Dhaka Tribune, importers and local traders blamed supply shortage for the sudden rise in onion prices.
Md Jewel, a trader at Karwanbazar, said: “We are not getting enough supply of onion and this is why the prices have gone up.”
Onion importer Mohammad Hafiz claimed: “This year production of onion has been less compared to previous year while the production fell also in India. Bad weather hampered preservation of onion.”
Moreover, he said, India increased prices of onion on export to Bangladesh, which also pushed the prices up here.
He, however, expressed hope that the price would come down as the import was gradually growing.
Meanwhile, prices of garlic have also gone up by Tk10 per kg. As of the yesterday, per kg garlic sold at Tk120, which was Tk100.
According to traders, Bangladesh consumes about 28 lakh tons of onion annually, of which about 50% are met with local produces and the rest with imported one.
In fiscal year 2017-18, 2.33 million tons of onion were produced in 212,194 hectares in the country.
According to Department of Agricultural, in the first seven months of the last fiscal year, 2.38 million tons of onion were produced in the country.
source (DT)
