Onion prices to become stable next month
The government is importing 60,000 tonnes of onions from Egypt
Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said today that onion prices will be stable in the local market from next month.
"As we do not have sufficient reserve, we have to depend on other countries for onion," he said while briefing reporters at the Bangladesh Leather Footwear and Leather-goods International Sourcing Show 2019 in the city.
After the onion export ban of India, Bangladesh started importing onions from Myanmar. But Myanmar has also increased the price, so the local market is still high, said the minister.
According to him, the daily onion consumption of the country is five to six thousand tonnes, while import from Myanmar has not exceeded five to six hundred tonnes.
"We have a plan of importing onions from Turkey, but it will be delayed. Right now, we are importing 60,000 tonnes from Egypt of which 10,000 tonnes are on the way, while the rest 50,000 tonnes will arrive soon," the minister said.
He said some corrupt businessmen are taking the chance of the crisis and making the local market unstable.
The government is trying to take actions against those persons said Tipu Munshi, adding that there are ten monitoring cells regarding this.
He said the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has started selling onions at Tk45 after buying them at Tk75 at 35 points across the city.
The commerce minister said this year's onion export ban of India has given us a lesson that "we have to be self-sufficient."
"I have also talked to the agriculture minister over the issue so that we can restrict onion import at the time when our local onions enter the market," said the minister.