The price of onion has started declining significantly in the market on Thursday. Onion price shot up and almost doubled on Tuesday.
The price of the essential kitchen ingredient dropped by Tk 10-15 per kg in both the wholesale and retail markets.
The decline in the price is attributed to several initiatives taken by the government. Government measures have put a direct impact on the kitchen markets in the city as well as other parts of the country. Common people have witnessed a sharp fall of this particular kitchen commodity on Thursday.
According to a Commerce Ministry press release, “Government has taken an initiative to import onion from several countries on an emergency basis to keep the price under control.”
Wholesalers of Karwan Bazar were seen selling onion at Tk 70 to 80 per kilogram on Thursday. The price is approximately 40% less than that of the previous day.
Retail onion trader Motin Mia at KarwanBazar said, “If we can buy onion at a lower price from a wholesaler, we will be able to sell it at a cheap price.”
A housewife of Tejgaon area told Bangladesh Post, “I have bought two kilograms of onion at Tk 180 on Thursday. My neighbour bought one kg onion at Tk 105 on Wednesday morning.”
In the meantime, there was a huge rush and many people queued up in front of TCB trucks in the city. Onion has been selling through open market sale (OMS) from September 13 across the country.
Market monitoring drives have been intensified under the supervision of the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) under the Ministry of Commerce and the local administration across the country.
Letters have been sent to the Chairman of the National Board of Revenue and the Chairman of the Port Authority to take necessary steps to release the imported onion from the land port as soon as possible. The government has taken steps to suspend the 5% import duty on onions till March, 2021.
Earlier on Wednesday, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said, “There is enough stock of onion in the country.”
The minister also urged everyone not to get panicked over the price of onion. The onion market will return to normalcy, he expressed the hope.