A meeting between the commerce ministry officials and onion traders on Thursday failed to find any solution to stop the soaring prices of onion before the Eid-ul-Azha.
The meeting at the ministry also could not come to a conclusion as to why the onion prices were skyrocketing in the local market despite having enough supplies.‘The commerce ministry remained in the dark about the reasons behind recent price hike of onion as the traders could not tell the ministry the precise reasons for this,’ a ministry official said after the meeting.
The price of onion is not falling, rather it has sharply increased in last two days without any logical grounds although there was enough stock of the product in the country, he said.
‘Being failed to bring any visible impact on the overheated onion market, the ministry is now waiting for the days after Eid-ul-Azha hoping that the price will come down by then,’ he said.
As the newest remedy for cooling the market, the ministry asked the importers to import the item at increased volume, particularly from Myanmar as the price of onion there is relatively lower than in India, the main source of Bangladesh’s import of the product, he said.
It also requested the local administration for strengthening market monitoring activities to check the price hike, he added.
The ministry on the day analysed the current supply, price and import situation of the product at the meeting with importers, traders and other stakeholders.
‘There is enough supply of the item as significant quantity of onion is being imported from India, Myanmar and Pakistan,’ another official said.
He said, ‘The ministry asked importers and traders about the causes behind the soaring price of onion in last two days but they mentioned typical reasons such as price rise in India and an increased demand ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.’
The ministry is not satisfied with the answers and asked them to increase the volume of import of the product to keep the price under control, he said.
He said that the importers were importing onion measuring the demand for daily basis fearing about possible loss as the market is fluctuating both in India and Bangladesh.
Officials said importers informed the meeting that onion import was being hampered due to general strike in Telangana state in India while many land ports on the Indian side remained almost closed due to Durga Puja.
They said that the ministry was checking the authenticity of the information of closing borders as according to Indian government’s decision borders will remain closed from Saturday.
Another official said that around 200 trucks laden with onion were on way to Bangladesh from Myanmar while another 60 trucks reached at Teknaf. Importers are also importing onion from India through all the major land ports.
Some onion is also being imported from Pakistan, he said.
The ministry has asked the customs authority for quick releasing of onion from port, he added.
The open sale activities of Trading Corporation of Bangladesh will also continue till August 14 to intervene the domestic market, he said, adding that TCB has enough stock of onion and it will import the item from Pakistan after Eid.
-With New Age input
