Onion prices: DAM finds big gap between farm level and city kitchen markets

A yawning price gap between farm level and city kitchen markets is depriving the consumers of buying onion at cheaper rate, the official data revealed.

The Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM) data, updated on December 21, showed that the prices of newly harvested seed onion locally known as ‘murikata’ dropped to Tk 46-Tk 54 per kilogram in Rajbari, Faridpur, Gopalganj, Magura, Jhenaidah, Meherpur, Pabna, Natore and Kushtia districts in last one week from Tk 65-Tk 75 a kg earlier.

But murikata onion was sold at Tk 100-Tk 120 a kg in the city’s retail market on Saturday. It was Tk 85-Tk 100 a kg at Shyambazar, Karwan Bazar and Rayer Bazar-Beribadh wholesale, traders said.

Dewan Ashraful Hossain, Deputy Director (Research, Market Linkage & ICT) at DAM, said they found an 85-100 per cent price gap between village market and city wholesale this week.

There was a big difference–104 per cent to 118 per cent-considering its retail prices, he said, adding that the price of local seed onion at retail level should be Tk 70-Tk 78 a kg.

Consumers Association of Bangladesh(CAB) secretary Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan said though the prices of onion declined significantly due to arrival of local new onion in the market, the government should step up monitoring to rein in its artificial price hike.

The price gap between village level and city wholesale-retail should be bridged to give the consumers a relief, he said, adding that farmers are collecting immature onion amid prevailing better prices which could lead to low production of both seed and seed onion.

“Our sources from onion growing districts are informing us that the prices of onion seed for seasonal farming have increased to Tk 4,500-5,200 per kg which was hardly Tk 1,500 a kg last year,” Mr Bhuiyan said.

The onion market in the country started becoming volatile after neighbouring India imposed a ban on onion export on September 29 last.

The ban impacted the local market for next two and a half months as onion prices shot up to Tk 260-Tk 270 a kg in November, an all-time high.

The prices of the spice started declining since the first week of this month with harvest of local onion.

The current prices of onion are still 233-300 per cent higher than that of a year ago, according to Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB).

Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) officials said the onion production target has been set at 2.35 million tonnes from 0.21 million hectares of land.

The local demand for onion is 2.4 million tonnes. The country also imports 0.9-1.1 million tonnes annually, mostly from India.

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