Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi on Wednesday said that the country has sufficient stock of onion to meet the demand for next two months.
"Currently, we have the stock of 600,000 tonnes of onion whereas we require 1 million tonnes until next January. Even India banned export of onion, we can meet the demand of the key cooking ingredient for two months easily,” he said.
Tipu Munshi came up with the remarks at a press briefing on "the state of stock, supply and price of daily essentials including onions" at his Secretariat office in the capital on Wednesday.
The minister said, "We have to be patient for one more month. Process is on to release the onion consignment stuck at the border within next two days.
He said, “Some 1,200 to 1,300 tonne of onions will arrive from Myanmar in a few days. People should avoid buying extra onion for a month and we will keep the supply chain stable during this period.
"The National Board of Revenue (NBR) also asked to release the onions imported through the land ports as soon as possible," he added.
Meanwhile, the government opened talks with the local companies including S Alam Group, and Meghna Group those imported the kitchen ingredient last year.
Munshi said, “This year, they (local businesses) will import onions again. We are looking to import onions from Turkey, China, Myanmar, Egypt, Holland and New Zealand as alternative markets. Onion from these countries will start arriving in a month.
"A letter has been sent to the Bangladesh Bank asking the central bank to cooperate the importers including opening of letter of credits (LCs) to keep the supply of onions normal," he added.
The minister further said the price of onion has increased over the last two weeks due to rain and flood. However, the TCB started open market sale (OMS) of onion on Sunday to avoid a volatile situation in the market.
“This time we are looking forward to add e-commerce to supply onion to the customer," he added.
Commerce Secretary Dr Jafar Uddin, Chairman of Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) Brigadier General MD Ariful Hassan were present at the briefing.
Drive against unscrupulous traders
A countrywide crackdown was launched against the hoarders and syndicate engaged in making the onion market volatile by spiraling the price of onion.
Taking the advantage of India’s ban on export of onion, unscrupulous traders doubled the onion price to Tk 100 or more.
Minister Munsi said, “Syndicates artificially create a crisis so a price spiral of onion continues… Punishment to dishonest traders has increased twofold.”
Meanwhile, the Directorate of National Consumer Right Protection (DNCRP) conducted drive at the different parts of Dhaka including Shaympur wholesale market on Wednesday to check the spiraling price of onion.
Led by Assistant Director of DNCRP Abdul Jabbar, at least eight traders were found selling onion with higher price and slapped with fine during the drive.
On Monday, India in a surprise move banned export of its onion effectively immediately after the country’s crop was damaged and harvesting delayed by excessive rain.
India is the biggest supplier of onions to Bangladesh as the latter buys a yearly average of more than 350,000 tonnes.
Onion prices in Bangladesh had jumped to a record Tk 250 in 2019 after a similar Indian ban forced the government to fly in onions.
