Edible oil, onion, date prices will come down soon: State minister for commerce

The prices of edible oil, onion and date will come down soon in the retail market, State Minister for Commerce Ahasanul Islam Titu said today (2 March).

He said this to reporters after a programme organised by women entrepreneurs at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in Dhaka's Agargaon.

The state minister said that 50,000 tonnes of onion will come from India this week. As a result, the prices of onions will be under control in the market, he added.

Apart from this, in the next two days, edible oil will be sold at the rate of Tk163 per litre in the retail market.

He said he had a bilateral discussion with India's Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal during the thirteenth ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

"There, India's commerce minister said he had ordered to issue a letter to send 50,000 tonnes of onion to Bangladesh. They received that letter yesterday."

The state minister further said onions will come to the country from this week.

The government has taken the initiative to reduce the prices of certain types of dates in the market by giving duty exemptions.

The state minister said there are at least 10 types of dates in the market. Among these, an initiative has been taken to reduce the price of Zaidi dates, which come in sacks, he added.