Price of local variety onions tops Tk 100 a kg again

The price of murikata (early variety) onions increased by Tk 5-10 a kg to Tk 100 a kg on Monday from Tk 90 a kg on Sunday in Dhaka again.

Prices of eggs also saw a rise.

During spot visits to kitchen markets in the capital’s Malibagh, Mogbazar and Karwan Bazar, murikata onions were seen being sold at Tk 95-10 a kg. Supply of imported onions was also very low and few traders were seen selling imported onions at a price of Tk 100-120 a kg.

Abul Bashar runs a grocery shop ‘Rahsid Store’ in Malibagh kitchen market. He told Prothom Alo, “Big-sized local varieties of onion are arriving in the markets, but the price is a bit higher due to its quality. However, there is no shortage of supply of onions in the market.”

State-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh highlighted the higher price of onion in its price list for Monday. Prices of newly-arrived local varieties of onions rose to Tk 90-100 a kg on Monday from Tk 75-90 a kg a week ago in Dhaka markets while prices of imported onions increased to Tk 100-120 a kg from Tk 85-90 a kg during this period.

Prices of murikata onions have seen an upward trend in its production hubs in Sujanagar and Shanthia upazilas of Pabna over the last week with wholesale price rising to Tk 70-77.50 a kg on Monday from Tk 60-70 a kg a week ago.

Onion farmers and traders said murikata onions started arriving in the markets one and a half months ago, and currently, supply is low, leading to price hikes. However, the main variety of halikata onions will start arriving in the market in a month, and prices will also drop.

Abdul Munnaf is the owner of the onion warehouse Munnaff Traders in Karmaja Chaturhat of Snathia. He told Prothom Alo that early variety of onion is at its last phase now, resulting in a low supply and price fluctuation.

Onion prices soared to over Tk 200 a kg in local markets after India banned onion exports in the beginning of December 2023. Locally produced murikata onions were also sold for Tk 150 a kg at first, but the price dropped later. Prices rose again to Tk 75-80 a kg now.

Amid the export ban by India, the Department of Agricultural Extension (DEA) is issuing import permits to bring onions from alternative markets in a bid to check the onion prices. Onions are also being imported from alternative markets other than India in less quantity.

The price of eggs also rose by at least Tk 5 a dozen over the week. Brown eggs were for Tk 135-140 a dozen while eggs for Tk 130-135 a dozen. Traders said the low supply of eggs triggered the price hike. According to TCB, egg prices increased by 7 per cent over the last week.

As the egg markets turned volatile, the government fixed the price of eggs at Tk 144 a dozen. The government also allowed 15 companies to import 150 million eggs from India, but only 61,950 pieces of eggs were imported through Benapole land port and the price of eggs was Tk 7.23 per egg including duty.

According to Todayeggrate.in, a website that tracks egg prices in India, the price of an egg was Rs 6 or Tk 7.94 in Kolkata on Monday. Meanwhile, egg-importing companies also requested the government to reduce import duty due to the price hike in India.

Yar Hossain is the owner of Mim Enterprise, one of the companies that secure permission for egg import. He said the process to import eggs did not stop yet.

“As a businessman, I must consider whether I will incur a loss after the import, and a loss is likely if eggs are imported under the existing duty system. That is why we have made a request to reduce duty and are awaiting the government’s decision.”

Barun Ray, Correspondent (Bera), Pabna, contributed to this report.