The prices of onion on Wednesday witnessed a fresh rise on both retail and wholesale markets in the city due to the sudden increase of demand of the item ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.
The retail prices of onion increased by Tk 10-Tk 15 a kg while the wholesale prices increased by Tk 10 a kg. Traders said that a supply shortage of the item has been prevailing in the market for the last two months.
Amid supply shortage, the demand of the item has increased more due to Eid-ul-Azha which resulted in price hike, they said.
Narayan Chandra Saha, an importer and wholesaler at Shambazar told New Age that demand of onion has increased excessively from today (Wednesday) as Eid came nearer.
Due to excess demand, the wholesale prices of onion increased by Tk 10 a kg and local onion was selling at Tk 80 a kg while the item from India, Pakistan and Myanmar was wholesaling at Tk 75 a kg, Tk 70 a kg and Tk 75 a kg respectively on the day, he said.
At the same time, the prices of onion increased by Tk 10-Tk 15 a kg on the retail market and both local and imported items were retailing at Tk 85-Tk 90 a kg.
Zakir Hossain, a retailer at Karwanbazar said that they were forced to increase the retail prices as wholesale prices of onion have increased.
He said that consumers were also buying onion in additional quantity than their actual need for a fear of shortage before Eid.
‘I think the prices of onion will increase more before Eid as the Indian border will remain closed for three days from Saturday due to Durga Puja and the import of the item will remain suspended at that time,’ onion importer Narayan Chandra said.
The price of the item has been increasing continuously since Eid-ul-Fitr due to supply shortage and increasing price in India.
The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh started selling onion on open market across the country in late August and early September.
In late August, the TCB sold a total of 200 tonnes of onion at Tk 47 a kg across the country and in September they set the price at Tk 55 a kg, up by Tk 8 from the previous price.
In face of the fresh rise of onion prices, the TCB outlets in the city on Wednesday faced a huge rush of consumers.
Though the TCB said that they will continue intervention in the domestic markets till Eid-ul-Azha in a bid to ease the soaring price of onion, the state trading agency actually failed to control the market.
-With New Age input
