The onion's price rose from Tk 50 to Tk 75 in last two weeks in the country due to deficit supply to the markets, traders said. Onion was selling for Tk 45 per kilo in Dhaka on an average in July and for Tk 50 on August 1.
The price rose by 43 percent over the past two weeks, while by 165 percent in the case of local product and by 90 percent in the case of Indian onion in one year, according to TCB. The price of onion seeds per kg is Tk 5,000, increasing from Tk1200. This is one of the reasons of price-hike.
Sources said that another reason of price-hike is that the Indian government has raised the export price and fixed $ 650 ((Tk 50,686) per tonne, transpiring the increase of the import cost.
Bangladesh produces about 14 lakh tonnes of onion annually against the demand for 20 lakh tonnes. To meet the deficit, the country imports it from India. Import from Myanmar was stopped because of higher cost. In this backdrop, traders have suggested for import from other countries to meet the demand.
India produces 1.40 crore of tonnes of onion annually. It exported 20 lakh tonnes during the fiscal year 2012-13, sources said. But suddenly demand increasing in some states, the Indian government has raised the export value in order to discourage export and on the other hand importing from Iran at lower cost. At present, onion is selling at RS 60 to 90 per kilo there.
To rein in the spiraling prices, the government has decided to hold a meeting with onion importers and wholesale traders early next week, Commerce Secretary Mahbub Ahmed told The New Nation.
The ministry has already directed the TCB chairman to look into the matter of importing onions from other countries where prices of the essential are lower, a source in the ministry said.
"Apart from India, we are looking for alternative countries, like Nepal and Myanmar, to import onions for checking the price hike," Additional Commerce Secretary Monoj Kumar Roy said.
"We may have to wait for two more months for fall of price, said importer Md Alamgir Hossain. On the other hand, Khondokar Babul has suggested for importing onion from Turkey through TCB immediately to overcome the crisis.
If LC is opened now, the onion will arrive within 10 days in Bangladesh, Turkey
produce huge quantities of onion and they export it, he said.
Meanwhile, the skyrocketing prices have made some importers shaky, said Ratan Saha, an onion importer and wholesaler based in Dhaka.
"We are afraid that people may reduce their onion consumption in the face of high prices. We might be left counting huge losses, as imported onions, in the end, have very short shelf-life," he added.
The onion yielding per hectors in Bangladesh is less than India and Pakistan. The farmers of the country yield onion six tones only while India produces 25 tones and Pakistan 14 tones.