Onion price slightly drops in kitchen market

The price of onion in Dhaka's kitchen markets has slightly dropped by around Tk20 following a sudden week-long price hike. 

After visiting the Karwan Bazar kitchen market, The Business Standard has found that Indian imported and locally grown onions are being sold at Tk70 and Tk90 per Kg respectively. 

The price had skyrocketed to Tk100 only five days ago following an onion export ban by neighbouring India on September 29.

The price also dropped in wholesale markets, where Indian imported and locally grown onion are being sold at Tk350 and Tk420 per 5Kg respectively. Different types of onions were being sold for Tk500 and Tk520 on Monday last week.

Locally grown hybrid onion is being sold at Tk80, while onion imported from Myanmar is being sold for around Tk70 per Kg.

"The prices of garlic and ginger decreased too. Five days ago, ginger was being sold at Tk160 per Kg, but the price dropped to Tk130 on Friday," said Abu Siddique, a trader in Karwan Bazar.

"The price of garlic also dropped to Tk110 per Kg," he added.

"The onion price has already dropped enough. I don't think it is going to decrease further," said Md Shuvo, a wholesaler.

He added that if India starts exporting onion to Bangladesh again, the price may decrease further.

"It was a fake crisis created by traders," said Humayun Kabir, spokesperson of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.

"After law enforcers conducted several drives in the past week, the prices began dropping slightly since the last two days. However, the price may drop further when more onion is imported from Egypt and Turkey," he added. 

After India's recent ban on onion export, Agriculture Minister Mohammed Abdur Razzaque had termed the resulting price hike as a temporary phase.