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Every year in the month of August-September, the price of onion goes up for one reason or another. At the government’s request, various industrial groups also began importing onions to handle the situation. Large quantities of onions are imported in various forms. But exactly how much onion enters the country, how many bonds (LC) are opened, how much the price is captured – all of this is not properly monitored. After lobbying for two years in a row, this time the government has decided to put importers under surveillance. The Commerce Ministry sent a letter to the Governor of the Bank of Bangladesh, Fazle Kabir, mentioning the matter.
Trade Minister Tipu Munshi told Kaler Kantha: “We want to know the price at which LCs open for importing onions. I spoke with the Bangladesh Bank today (yesterday) about the matter. They will give us all the information. He said: ‘Meanwhile, the big industrial groups have started importing onions. Like last year, this time the price did not go up. Hope everything is fine in 15-20 days.
According to sources from the Ministry of Commerce, the demand for onions in the country is two to three lakh tonnes per month. According to him, the annual demand for onion is 24 to 25 lakh tonnes. Much of this demand is covered by imports. However, no data subject has the correct information about the import. The price at which LCs open is out of control as well. As a result, importers have the opportunity to trade onions easily. They market onions with false information at LC prices. This increases the price at the wholesale level.
It is known that the record and import price of onion will be reviewed through four ports in the country. It will also explore why there is a large price difference in the import and retail markets. The number of LCs opened by traders for the importation of onions and the number of disposal will also be reviewed. To do this, the Ministry of Commerce has sent a letter to the Bangladesh Bank requesting daily information on the matter.
To keep the onion market stable, the Ministry of Commerce has asked large industrial groups to import onions as they did last year. In response to this, four large industrial groups S Alam, Meghna, City and BSM LC are already opening. S Alam Group has set a goal of importing one lakh ton of onions. Other large groups will also import onions in close quantities. Onions imported by large industrial groups will be sold throughout the country at subsidized prices. In addition, two hundred five hundred small and medium-sized traders have obtained permission to import around 1.5 billion tonnes of onions to control the price of onions.
Golam Rahman, president of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), told Kaler Kanth that onions are marketed at various times, around the same time, every year, for various reasons. This misleads consumers. Profits are merchants. The onion yield has been good in the country last year. So there are sufficient stocks of onions in the hands of traders. Traders are reaping the benefits of India’s sudden halt in onion exports. The government should intensify monitoring.
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