Govt set to offer onions at Tk30-35 per kg for TCB card holders

The government will give two kilograms of onions at a subsidised price per month to one crore poor families of the country who are card holders of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB). 

From this month, the families will get onions, along with rice, pulse and oil.

The price at which onions will be given to the families has not been finalised yet. 

There is, however, a proposed price of Tk30-35 per kg, sent to the Ministry of Commerce for approval. 

The retail rate of domestic onion is currently Tk100 per kg. For the Indian variety, it stands between Tk70-80.

Apart from this, the TCB also plans to sell onions through trucks in Dhaka's open market, although no decision has been made on this end yet. 

Humayun Kabir, a TCB spokesperson, told The Business Standard that one crore families with TCB cards will be given two kgs of onions from this month along with other products. 

The sales of onions can begin as early as next week.

He said the TCB currently has 250 tonnes of Indian onions, which would be distributed. 

It will also be importing more onions from India soon. 

Amid the unusual increase in the price of onions, on 14 September the Ministry of Commerce fixed the price of domestic onions at Tk 64-65 per kg. 

But onions were not sold anywhere at that price. 

On the other hand, the price of local onions touched Tk100 in various markets of the capital yesterday.

On 5 June, the government allowed the import of onions from India to cool prices in the local market. 

At the end of August, the price of domestic onion reached close to Tk100. 

The government then allowed the import of onion from nine more countries – China, Egypt, Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey, Myanmar, Thailand, Netherlands and United Arab Emirates.

According to the commerce ministry, about 4,500 tonnes of onions have already been imported. 

However, imports fell after India imposed a 40% tariff on onion exports on 20 August.