The soaring onion price in the country may jump afresh as the Indian government increased further the minimum export price to $900 a tonne from $650 on Thursday.
The Bangladeshi importers who opened letters of credit for import of onion from India with a price of $650 a tonne were forced to take onion at $900 a tonne on Saturday, reports New Age’s Joypurhat correspondent.
Importers at the Hilli land port initially protested the price hike by India and declined to offload onion on Friday.
Around 16 trucks of onion amounting 320 tonnes, however, entered in the port from India on Saturday as Bangladeshi importers paid $900 a tonne.
The Indian government raised the price to $900 a tonne from $650 to boost domestic supplies, reports Bloomberg.
Commerce secretary Mahbub Ahmed told New Age on Saturday that he heard about the Indian government’s decision about raising the minimum onion export price. ‘I am yet to know about the import situation after the price hike,’ he said.
The Indian government that had set a minimum export price of $650 a tonne in August because of price hike of the commodity there and Bangladesh importers were forced to pay the amount although many of them had opened LCs with a price of $350 a tonne.
Bangladesh meets almost one fourth of its annual onion demand of around 18 lakh tonnes from imports from India.
After Indian government put a minimum export price, onion price in Bangladesh started to soar and reached at Tk 90 a kilogram in August.
Although the price came down to around Tk 65 a kg in late August, the price again skyrocketed to around Tk 95 in last two days.
Wholesalers said that the latest Indian hike in onion prices would affect the local market further in coming days.
The onion prices in India may extend a record rally as heavy monsoon rains delay harvests and worsen a shortage, reports Bloomberg.
Retail prices of the vegetable used in everything from soups to curries soared to 70 rupees ($1.13) a kilogram (2.2 pounds) in New Delhi this week from 20 rupees three months earlier, according to the consumer affairs ministry. Prices may increase further as farmers are unable to pick the crop due to monsoon rains, said CB Holkar, a director at the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd.
Onion arrivals may increase from the third week of October as rains in producing areas are hindering arrivals, India’s agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said Thursday.
Unusually heavy monsoon rainfall this month has delayed harvest in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka states, which account for about 50 per cent of India’s production, Holkar said.
Prices may begin to ease from middle of next month with the arrival of fresh crops, he said.
-With New Age input
