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Faruk Ahmed, director of Trade Impex, a Chittagong-based importer, has opened a letter of credit to import onions from China. He said that at first glance, onion imports from China, Pakistan, Myanmar and Egypt have increased after India stopped exporting. Due to the good prices, these countries are also showing more interest in exporting onions to Bangladesh.
Bangladesh importers are also getting competitive prices as the number of alternative countries for onion imports increases. Immediately after the suspension of Indian exports, they increased the price of onion by থেকে 100 to ড 120 per ton due to purchasing pressure from several countries, including Bangladesh. The price of onion rose from ৮ 360 to a high of 500. Now that the number of alternative countries has increased, the price on the international market has dropped by between £ 20 and £ 30, traders said.
The alternative market grows bigger
99% of the onions imported to Bangladesh came from India due to less time and price. For the first time since India stopped exporting on September 29 last year, large-scale imports of onions from alternative markets began. At the end of the last fiscal year 2019-20, 40 percent of the country’s total onion imports or 2 lakh 17 thousand tons came from the alternative market. Never before in the history of Bangladesh have so many onions been imported from the alternative market.
Myanmar is at the forefront of the alternative market for onion imports. Besides Myanmar, onions have been imported from countries such as China, Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, and the Netherlands. New Zealand and Malaysia have been added to the list.
Asaduzzaman Bulbul, deputy director of the Plant Quarantine Center in Chittagong, told Prothom Alo that after India stopped exporting, there were four alternative countries to collect import permits at first. It has now increased to eight.
