TCB selling onion at Tk 23
The people are heaving a sigh of relief as the price of onion has fallen with the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) offering the item at Tk 23 per kg through e-commerce companies.
Consumers can now buy as much onion as they want instead of 3 kg per person from online shops. They can be bought for Tk 23 a kg, down from Tk 36.
Eighteen e-commerce companies are selling onion in Dhaka, Chattogram, Tangail, Rajshahi and Sirjganj.
Apart from selling onion, the government trading arm will introduce the sale of more products online.
Prices of the popular kitchen item went through the roof after India banned onion export on 14 September this year, prompting Bangladesh to import it from various countries to meet the demand.
Bangladesh’s annual demand for the popular kitchen item ranges between 2.2 and 2.5 million tonnes. Commerce ministry figures show the amount imported was hardly 0.4 million tonnes in FY09, but had touched up to 1.1 million tonnes in recent years.
The government initiative helped cool down the onion market. Onion prices have been falling over the past few weeks.
On 16 September, commerce minister Tipu Munshi told the media that the country has a stock of 600,000 tonnes of onion and asked the people not to panic.
Mohammad Abdul Wahed Tomal, general secretary of e-cab, said there is adequate stock of onion now which is the reason behind the price fall.
Jahangir Alam Shobhon, general manager of e-cab, said currently 10,000 metric tonnes of onion is being sold through online shops and the authorities concerned are making it easier to bring the onion to the doorsteps of consumers. People can purchase their daily grocery items easily from home.
Currently, onions are available at different online shopping sites.
On 20 September, Tipu Munshi inaugurated a programme titled ‘Onion at Home’ as the chief guest over Zoom, offering people the item at Tk 36 per kg.
The government took this initiative to curb the rise in onion prices and to allow middle-class buyers to buy onions online.
People will be able to buy onion through selected online retailers.