Onion prices double within a week in Ctg
Retail prices of onion have doubled to Tk 42-Tk 44 a kilogramme on an average in Chittagong city in the span of a week.
Shopper Jahangir Alam in Kazir Dewri Kitchen Market suspected a syndicate is responsible for the price spiral and they are hoping to cash in on the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha.
Retailers such as Osman Ali of Chawkbazar Kitchen Market blamed the wholesale market for the rise. Ali claimed that they made a profit of just Tk 1 per kilogramme.
In Khatunganj wholesale market, proprietor Mohammad Idris of M/S Bacha Miah Saodagor attributed the increase in onion prices to the growing import costs and said Indian onion dominated 80 percent of the market.
A week ago, one kilogramme of onion cost them Rs 12 to 14, which consisted of the purchasing price of Rs 6 at the border, Rs 5 for transport and Rs 1 for clearing and forwarding agents, he said. “But now the price has shot up to Rs 27.”
Onion is perishable and there is no scope for ill-motivated stocking, Md Afsar Uddin, proprietor of Sonali Traders at Khatunganj wholesale market, told The Daily Star yesterday.
He said floods had damaged harvests in Gujarat and exporters in Nashik have raised prices.
“We can import onion quickly from Myanmar but the rate is higher...price of onion will exceed Tk 50.”
“We can import from Pakistan as the price is still reasonable there, but it will take time and we will not get those before Eid-ul-Azha even if we open L/C today,” he said.
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