Onion prices are rising, not the crisis

The price of onion has doubled in a day in Dinajpur after India stopped exporting. At the same time, the sale of onions in the market has increased at an unusual rate due to the fear of crisis. As a result, prices have risen due to increased demand.

On Tuesday, it was seen that imported onions were sold in the retail market on Monday at 40 to 45 rupees per kg. The price was increased from Tk 90 to Tk 100 per kg on Tuesday. Besides, domestic onions are sold at Tk 60 per kg on Monday. The onions are sold on Tuesdays at Rs 110 to Rs 120 per kg.

Market retailers said they were forced to buy onions at higher prices from wholesalers and sell them at higher prices.

Even though the price is high, the sales have increased, said Mamtaz Hossain, an onion seller in Dinajpur. He said many people are buying more and more onions for fear of crisis. The price is rising further.

Majedur Rahman, a wholesale onion trader in Dinajpur, said they had to buy onions at higher prices from different places as they could not get them at Mokam.

He said he brought onions from Healy land port and sold them. But no onions were found in Healy on Monday. He was forced to buy onions from Bogra at double the price.

Majedur Rahman said he had bought imported onions at Tk 30 per kg on Sunday but had to pay Tk 75 to 80 in Bogra on Monday.

The wholesaler said he sold imported onions at Tk 40 per kg on Monday but sold them at Tk 60 per kg on Tuesday. And he has sold domestic onion at Tk 58 per kg at Tk 90 per kg.

Talking about the increase in sales, he said that he sold 100 sacks of onions every day but on Tuesday he sold 140 sacks of onions. Consumers are buying more and more onions for fear of further price rise and crisis. Therefore, with the increase in sales, the price is also increasing, he said.

Meanwhile, 150 trucks carrying onions were stranded at the Bengali Healy land port on the other side of the Healy land port in Dinajpur waiting to enter Bangladesh as India suddenly stopped exporting onions.

Harun-ur-Rashid Harun, president of the Healy Land Port Importers Group, told Jugantar that they had abruptly stopped exporting onions to Bangladesh to curb the rising prices of onions in the Indian market. The importers of Healy land port had LC of 10,000 tons of onion to import onions from India and 150 trucks full of onions were waiting to enter Bangladesh beyond Healy land port. But on Monday, onion exports were suddenly stopped and they could not enter Bangladesh. The importers of Healy land port have faced severe financial losses due to this.

"Not only is India dependent, we importers have also given LCs to other countries," he said. Therefore, he hoped that there would be no shortage of onions in the country.

Meanwhile, on Monday, a notice signed by Amit Yadav, director general of the foreign trade branch of the Indian Ministry of Industry and Commerce, announced a ban on onion exports. According to the notice, onion exports will remain suspended till further notice. An order in this regard was sent to the customs of various ports in India.

Onion prices in India have risen recently due to supply shortages caused by heavy rains and floods in various states of India. It is learned that they have decided to stop onion exports to curb the price rise.

Although the closure was announced on Monday afternoon, no onion-carrying truck from India has entered Bangladesh through the Hili land port in Dinajpur since Monday morning. Sohrab Hossain Mallick Pratap, public relations officer of Panama Port Link Limited, a private operator of Healy land port, confirmed that 29 trucks carrying onions entered Bangladesh through Healy land port on Sunday.