Onion prices soar again
The price of onion has increased from Tk 35-50 to Tk 70-80 in just three days amid panic buying due to coronavirus outbreak in the country.
Earlier, consumers were relieved as the price of the staple vegetable dropped after its price had spiraled for months.
The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has been conducting drives to control the market.
Though onions are now abundant in the market, panic stocking of essentials by consumers has sent the price of the product high.
Onions are locally produced in the country as well as imported from India. A large section of the onions are preserved by the traders in depots which assures a normal supply. Despite so, the traders have doubled the price of the product in three days.
The price of garlic has risen from Tk 70 to Tk 80.
To contain the market, RAB has conducted a drive at the onion wholesale market in Jatrabari, Dhaka on Saturday morning. After the drive, traders started selling onions at Tk 40 and garlics at Tk 70. While the RAB drive had normalised the prices at Jatrabari, the prices were still high at Karwan Bazar and Mirpur 1. Onions are being sold at Tk 70-80 at all the superstores and stationary shops across the city.
During the Jatrabari drive, RAB mobile court had fined a trader Tk 900,000 and interrogated several others.
The traders failed to supply documents to the RAB regarding actual onion prices which they were selling at Tk 65.
“We’ll conduct drives at all the markets,“ said Sarwar Alam, executive magistrate of RAB. “Strict legal actions will be taken against those who are taking advantage of the situation for extra prices.”
The price of onions suddenly hit the roof in markets Wednesday amid coronavirus fears. Though the government has been assuring the people of no stock crisis and not to panic, such speeches failed to control the market.
According to state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), which monitors price of most essentials, price of local onions has risen from Tk 40 to Tk 80 in a span of a week while price of imported onions has risen from Tk 50 to Tk 70.
On Thursday, mobile courts fined nine shops Tk 105,000 in two upazilas of Sunamganj for stocking onion and selling them on high price. On the same day, three traders in Bhairab Bazar were fined Tk 60,000 for selling onion on high prices. The TCBG fined an institution Tk 20,000 during a drive at Karwan Bazar on Friday.
“The stock, supply and prices of the essential commodities in the market are normal. So, there is no need to go for panic buying of the commodities due to COVID-19,” said commerce minister Tipu Munshi on Wednesday.
Tipu said the onion price in the country has come down to normal and there is no cause of being panicked over the supply and price of products. He mentioned Directorate of the National Consumer Rights Protection (DNCRP) has already strengthened its market monitoring activities.