Onion price up again on news of import only for TCB

Onion prices increased Tk10-15 per kg on Tuesday, a day after it declined by the same amount on news of import from India.  

The price of local onion fell to Tk90 per kg at Khatunganj on Monday after India lifted a ban on onion export. 

On Tuesday, it again returned to its previous level of Tk100 to Tk105 a kg at the country's largest wholesale kitchen market at news that the essential kitchen item may be imported only for the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh. 

The Economic Times of India reported on Monday that the central government decided to lift the export ban, allowing traders to export 3 lakh tonnes of onion, including 50,000 tonnes approved for Bangladesh. 

Balay Kumar Poddar, a Khatunganj wholesale trader, told The Business Standard, "The wholesale onion price declined by Tk10-15 per kg on Monday afternoon after the Indian decision for withdrawing the export ban as it created possibility for onion imports from India."

The wholesalers increased the price again when they heard from importers that the onion import may only be for the TCB, he added. "That's why the price of onion has returned to their earlier level."

Echoing Balay, Mohammad Idris, general secretary of Khatunganj's Hamidullah Mia Bazaar Traders Association, told TBS, "Traders bought onion at a high price. Everyone wanted to sell their goods quickly for fear of incurring losses due to a potential price drop caused by the imports."