Govt plans to import onion from India soon, Dr Razzaque

Agriculture Minister Dr M Abdur Razzaque today said the government has a plan to import onion from India soon as the price of the commodity becomes just more than double at Taka 80 per kilogram in a month.

“The government has a plan to import onion from India as the decision will be taken shortly if the price of the essentials would not come under control at the local market”, he told the journalists while talking about onion import at his ministry office here.

The price of the kitchen item would not rise more than Taka 45 per kg, said the minister, adding” that the price of the item is likely to reduce to Taka 45 if the import would take place.”

At present, the retail price of per kg onion now is being sold at Taka 80, up from Taka 50 during last week while it was Taka 30 a month ago, according to a data prepared by the Trading Corporation Bangladesh (TCB).

Criticizing the role of some unscrupulous traders, the agriculture minister said they did not maintain stability in selling the commodity. Despite the country had witnessed adequate onion production during last year but huge amount of onions were rotten due to hoarding these commodities at their godowns unethically, he told the journalists.

Meanwhile, the commerce ministry already has requested to the ministry of agriculture for seeking onion import permission considering the price hike of the commodity exorbitantly at the retail level for the last couple of days.

To this end, a letter signed by Shamima Akhter, joint controller of the ministry of commerce, has been sent to the concerned officer at the agriculture ministry on Sunday.

“The price of the essentials have been increasing continuously at the retail level…so, the country needs to take initiative for raising supply of the commodity at the local markets for making the onion price stable”, the letter elaborated.