Onion prices shoot up
The retail price of onion has gone up to Tk 80 per kg in city kitchen markets, putting the low and middle income people, already reeling from Covid-19 fallout, under more financial pressure.
Retailers were seen selling the local variety of onion for Tk 75-80 a kg, up by Tk 30 from three days ago while the imported Indian onion was being sold for Tk 50-60 a kg, an increase by about Tk 15.
Md Amin Mia, a retailer at Shukrabad kitchen market, said he bought 120kg of local onion from Mohammadpur Krishi Market at Tk 75 a kg and was selling it for Tk 80 a kg.
Wholesalers in Karwan Bazar and several other markets were selling the local variety of the essential cooking ingredient for Tk 70-75 a kg and the imported Indian onion for Tk 45-55 a kg.
Visiting Town Hall kitchen market in Mohammadpur yesterday, this correspondent found customers expressing worries about soaring onion prices.
Manirul Islam, a private company employee, was telling an onion trader, "How can we survive if the prices of essentials are so high?"
The 35-year-old told this correspondent he could not afford the high prices of essentials.
"For the last few months, my salary amount was exhausted by the 20th of each month. I need to borrow money to run my family for the rest 10 days. I can't even buy medicine for my ailing parents."
Another private employee, Md Shafiqul Islam, said his family has already reduced their food intake to cope with the additional expenses.
"But if the prices of essentials increase further, we will not be able to survive," said Shafiqul, who draws a monthly salary of Tk 30,000.
Speaking to The Daily Star, several traders and farmers said the harvest of new onion, locally known as "Murikata Peyaj", has been delayed due to recent rains.
Taking this as an opportunity, a syndicate of large traders has increased the prices of the cooking ingredient by creating an artificial crisis in the market, they alleged.
According to them, there is no shortage in supply of onion at this moment and prices are expected to fall soon.
Md Kamruzzaman, a farmer from Pabna, said new onion will hit the market within a week.
The two-day incessant rain from Sunday lashed different parts of the country, causing extensive damages to crops, especially winter vegetables and seedbeds.
According to the Department of Agricultural Extension, a total of 33.62 lakh tonnes of onion was produced in the country in 2020-21 fiscal year.
However, the yearly demand for onion in the country is about 25 lakh tonnes. About 29.55 lakh tonnes of onion was produced locally while another six to seven lakh tonnes was imported, according to data presented at a workshop of the commerce ministry in October.
Since onion is perishable, some 25 percent of the produce gets damaged, as per the data.
Ghulam Rahman, president of Consumers Association of Bangladesh, said some opportunists among the traders raised the prices of onion mainly to make hefty profits.
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