ANN/THE DAILY STAR – Onion prices at wholesale and retail markets in Bangladesh rose overnight yesterday after India imposed a 40-per-cent duty on exports of the bulb.
India slapped a fresh tax on onion exports on Saturday to retain stocks and thereby tame escalating domestic prices, according to a notification from the neighbouring nation’s Finance Ministry.
As such, the wholesale price of Indian onions has risen by as much as BDT12 per kg, according to traders in Dhaka and Chattogram.
Mohammad Hafiz Uddin, a wholesaler in the capital’s Shyambazar, said he sold Indian onions for about BDT50 per kg on Saturday while the price was BDT62 on Sunday.
“The price started to rise after the Indian government imposed a new duty on onion exports,” he added.
Although Bangladesh produces enough onion to meet domestic demand, a significant portion is imported each year to cover the supply dearth resulting from post-harvest losses caused by insufficient storage facilities.
And with India being a major source, the recent restriction on onion exports from the country has encouraged local traders to hike their prices in a bid to profit from the situation.
As such, the price of local onion has increased by BDT10 at the retail level. Mohammad Shiplu, who operates a retail outlet at Mirpur-11 in Dhaka, said he sold local onions for BDT85 per kg on Saturday while it was BDT95 the day after.
While visiting the Khatunganj wholesale market in Chattogram, it was found that most traders are not selling onions for the time being in hopes of getting higher prices later.
“I ordered 500 tonnes of onion at BDT45 per kg last Friday but got only 100kg on Sunday,” said Arif Hossain, a trader from Hathazari upazila in Chattogram.
Abdul Haque, a wholesaler at Khatunganj, said the supply of onion has been low for the last week.
Minto Hossain, an onion importer from Chattogram city, said India imposed the duty on exports of the bulb to keep its domestic market stable in face of lower production this year.
“This has impacted imports. So, onion has not been available as per demand for the past two weeks,” he added while claiming that unreasonable delays in the exemption of goods from India is also to blame.
Responding to a query, Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque yesterday told reporters at an event in Dhaka that 13 lakh tonnes of onion have been cleared for import considering the supply crunch.
However, only three lakh tonnes have entered the country so far.
Razzaque also said it was found that many farmers still have a relatively large stock of onion.
“So, the export tariff imposed by India should have little impact on onion prices in Bangladesh,” he added.
An importer from Chattogram city Obaidul Haque said to overcome this crisis, many traders have opened letters of credit for importing onion from Myanmar and China.
“This means the prices could become stable when new consignments enter the market about two weeks from now,” he added.
Former president of the Jessore Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mizanur Rahman said shipments of onion ordered before India imposed the new duty are now being imported. “But no onion has been ordered from India ever since the duty was imposed,” he added.
