Onion import from today

Staff Reporter :
The government has allowed importing onion from Monday in a bid to control its prices, rising by a large margin — from Tk 40 to Tk 80 in a month.
The Ministry of Agriculture took the decision to protect the interests of all consumers, according to a notice on Sunday.
The decision comes following the commerce ministry’s recommendation to resume the onion imports.

Earlier, the government stopped issuing new permits for importing Indian onions from March 16 through the Hili land port to ensure local farmers get a fair price.
However, as the price of the onions continued to sky-rocket in recent weeks, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi had asked the local traders to reduce the price of onion.
He had also warned that the government would import onions if the price did not come down within a few days.
In the meantime, the price of the onion has been increased gradually in the country. According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) on Sunday the onion price was reached close to Tk100 per kg in the country’s kitchen market.

One week earlier per kilogram onion was sold at Tk70 to Tk75 whereas one month before it was Tk50 to Tk55. Within one month the price of onion hiked Tk40 per kg.
In the same time of last month per kg onion was sold at Tk35 to Tk40, TCB stated.

According to Department of Agricultural Extension (DAE) about 10 lakh tones of onion production have been increased in the country in last two years. In the running year about 34 lakh tones onion have been harvested in the country whereas about 18.30 lakh tones were stored. About 30-35 per cent of the onion has destroyed due to proper reservation. There were about 26-28 lakh tones onion have needed in the country to fulfill the people demand.