Although the price of onion started to decrease in Khatunganj wholesale market of Chattogram, the traders are worried about storing onions as water logging has occurred in various areas of Chattogram city due to excessive rain. If the imported onions cannot be stored, the traders will face losses and the impact of downward prices of onions in the retail market will not sustain either.
The interim government decided to import onions from various countries of the world in an effort to stabilize the volatility in onion market that is going on for a long time. Apart from India, Bangladesh has started importing onion from Egypt, Thailand, China and Pakistan to reduce the dependency on India for onion and keep the price within the reach of common people. The good news for the buyers is that a positive effect of that can already be seen in the market. Onion price has started to decrease in Chattogram’s Khatunganj market, the second biggest consumer goods market in the country.
The traders in Khatuganj market said when the quota reform movement started, the big traders stopped opening LC. So the small traders started opening LC to import onion from Pakistan, China, Thailand and Egypt. Those onions arrived at Chattogram port immediately after the fall of Sheikh Hasina government on August 5. The traders have already released the onions from Chattogram port and started to supply them in the market. The price is decreasing as a result. Several traders of Khatunganj said the price of onion already went down by Tk 10 to Tk 30 per sack. When the correspondent visited Chaktai and Khatunganj wholesale market, he observed that Indian onions are being sold at Tk 92 per kg, China onions are being sold at Tk 55 per kg, Egyptian onions are being sold at Tk 70 per kg and Pakistani onions are being sold at Tk 75 per kg. Basically, consumer goods in Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar and other neighbouring uapzilas and districts are usually supplied from Chaktai and Khatuganj market. If the prices of products increase in the wholesale markets, the other markets where the products are being supplied also get affected. However, the traders said, price increase affect the retail market faster, meanwhile, price fall affects the market a lot more slowly.
A trader in Khatunganj market, unwilling to disclose his name, said that fewer onions were imported from India in the current month due to the political instability in the country. Still, there are Indian onions in the market. Small amount of Indian onions are still being smuggled in the market. Along with Indian onions, Pakistani onions are being sold more at the market, said the trader.
He also said that earlier, the small traders could not open LC because of the big traders. However, many small traders opened LC in the last month. As the onions that were bought with LC already arrived, the supply of onion in the market increased and the price decreased due to that.
However, trading in the market is relatively less due to the political unrest in the country. The business is not running in full swing yet. Moreover, it may not be possible to continuously import onions from other countries apart from India. Heavy rain only added to the problems of the traders. So the traders are worried about storing the onions.
Sources from Chattogram Customs said 2,832 metric tonnes of onions were cleared through the customs that arrived at the Chattogram Port in the current month. Among them, 1,933 tonnes of onions came from Pakistan, 580 tonnes of onions came from China, 314 tonnes of onions came from Egypt and 5 tonnes of onions came from Thailand.
The traders said the onions that comes from China and Egypt are bigger in size compared to local and Indian onions. There are seven to ten pieces onions in one kg of China onions and 10 to 14 onions in one kg of Egyptian onions. As they are bigger in size, they have less demand in retail market. However, the size of Pakistani onions and Indian onions are similar.
Meanwhile the vice-president of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), SM Nazer Hossain, said when the supply of onions decreases, the traders become desperate to increase the price. However, when the supply increases, they do not think about reducing the price. So everyone needs to be aware so that the traders cannot create false crisis in the market.
However, now the traders are worried about storing onions due to the heavy rain in Chattogram. The price of onion started to decrease after the traders begin to import onions from other countries. But the downward price will not sustain if the traders cannot store the onions.
