News Desk :
The interim government has granted permission to import 6,000 tonnes of onions daily from India to hold down prices.
On the first day of the decision to increase imports, the Department of Agricultural Extension issued 200 Import Permits (IPs), reports bdnews24.com
Importers will be able to import the daily quantity of onions against the approved IPs issued on Saturday.
No more than 30 tonnes of onions, however, can be imported per IP.
The government has authorised the import of a total of 19,500 tonnes of onions from India in eight days, according to Boni Amin Khan, additional director of the department’s Plant Quarantine Wing.
Previously, on Dec 7, the government allowed the import of 1,500 tonnes of onions a day against 50 IPs from India.
As the price of local onions did not stabilise, the government increased the daily import quota eight days after the import began.
According to market price data from the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), local onions were sold across Dhaka markets on Sunday at Tk 80 to Tk 140 per kg.
On Dec 14, 2024, each kg of local onion was sold at a minimum price of Tk 90 and a maximum of Tk 125.
Even though imported onions entered the Bangladeshi market through land ports starting from Dec 7, the TCB still kept the market price column for imported onions blank on Sunday.
Abdul Latif, a trader at Jatrabari kitchen market, told bdnews24.com: “Rajshahi’s local onions are selling at Tk 150 per kg, and the large Indian ones are selling at Tk 130.” Medium and small-sized imported onions are being sold at Tk 110. Even last Friday, Indian onions were sold in the Dhaka market at Tk 80-100.
The price of imported onions shot up by Tk 30 per kg within two days.
