Supply crunch sends onion price up to Tk 75

The prices of onion increased by more than 50 per cent within a month and it was retailing at Tk 65-Tk 75 a kilogram in the city markets due to off-season supply shortage in the country and the main import market in India.
Traders said that prices of onion increased by Tk 10 a kg in the city’s wholesale markets as a result of price hike in Indian market.
Onions produced in Nashik and Bengaluru were the main source of Bangladeshi importers but the season of the item in the two regions already ended and supply from Bengaluru remained stop for one month, they said.
The prices of onion increased by Tk 15 a kg in the city’s kitchen markets over the week and the local item was being retailed at Tk 70-75 a kg while imported item was selling at Tk 65-70 a kg on Tuesday.
‘Wholesale prices of onion increased by Tk 10-15 a kg in last one week and today the local item is being sold at Tk 70 a kg while the imported one is sold Tk 65 a kg,’ Afzal Mia, a wholesaler at Karwan Bazar, told New Age on Tuesday.
He said that import of onion from India decreased in recent time and at the same time export price increased in the country due to off-season supply shortage in Nashik and Bengaluru in India.
Maksud Alam, a retailer at Mohammadpur Krishi Bazar, said that supply of local onion is near to end and at the same time the supply of imported item also decreased in the market.
The prices of onion witnessed a sharp hike in last one week due to supply shortage of both the local and imported varieties, he said.
Maksud said that the harvesting season of onion ended more than eight months ago in the country while India also was suffering from off-season supply shortage.
According to Trading Corporation of Bangladesh data, the price of imported onion increased by 53.33 per cent to Tk 55-60 a kg in last one month while the price of local item increased by 42.11 per cent to Tk 65-70 a kg in the city markets.
Earlier, the prices of onion increased to Tk 75 a kg from Tk 35 a kg in the month of August before Eid-ul-Azha.
Although traders blamed Indian traders for increasing export price, onion prices decreased immediately after Eid in the city markets.

Source: New Age