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The government has stockpiled 6 lakh tonnes of onions and placed four districts under special surveillance

  • Financial
  • Lead News
  • 22 September, 2020 11:29:44

Photo: Collected

News Desk: When India suddenly stopped onion exports, the onion market in the country became unstable within a few hours. The price of 50-60 rupees onion goes up to 110 rupees. However, according to the Commerce Ministry, the country currently has at least six lakh metric tonnes of onions in stock.

But unscrupulous traders have raised prices by capitalizing on India's exports to create an artificial crisis. Therefore, the government has kept a close watch on the four districts of the country to find these opportunistic syndicates.

A senior Commerce Ministry official, who did not want to be named, said: Prices also rose in September last year. So from the beginning, the Ministry of Commerce was active in increasing the price of onion.

So several teams from the Ministry of Commerce went to different parts of the country to see the overall situation of onion stocks. These teams can find out from the on-the-spot inspection and intelligence sources that at least six lakh metric tons of onions are stored in four districts of Pabna, Faridpur, Rajbari and Manikganj.

He said, "According to the information on onion production, import and demand in the country, at present the country has a stock of more than six lakh metric tonnes of onions." But trade syndicates in these districts have destabilized the market by capitalizing on India's export embargo and creating an artificial crisis. These rogue traders did the same thing last year. '

He added, "But this time, preparations have already been made and information has been received about the storage bases in four districts." In the meantime, law enforcement as well as intelligence surveillance has been intensified in these districts.

The Commerce Ministry team will hold meetings with the district deputy commissioners and locals. So that in no way can traders create an artificial crisis by stockpiling onions. '

Meanwhile, TCB is already selling onions at only Tk 30 per kg by truck to control the onion market. Besides, the government agency has also started selling onions online at Tk 38 per kg.

The government has also lifted the 5 per cent duty on onion imports to boost imports from India and other alternative countries, including Turkey, China and Myanmar.

As a result of these initiatives of the government, the price of onion has also come down a bit. Last Monday (September 14), India suddenly stopped exporting onions to Bangladesh. As a result, the price of onion became volatile in the country's market.

The price of 80 rupees domestic onion went up to 110 rupees on Tuesday. The wholesale price of onion has gone up from Tk 50 to Tk 75 per kg. Some wholesalers also sell onions at Rs 90 per kg. Panicked by the increase in prices, consumers rushed to buy extra onions.

Then there was the buyer crisis in the onion market from Thursday. The effect of which is to reduce the price of onion in the wholesale market. On Thursday and Friday, the price of onion went down to Tk 6 per kg in two phases.

In this situation, the news comes that before the ban, India has given permission to give 25,000 tons of onion to Bangladesh. This further reduced the prices of both domestic and imported onions on Saturday and Sunday.

However, the news started coming from Sunday that most of the onions coming from India were wasted. After that, the price of domestic onion went up again in the wholesale market on Monday. However, the prices of imported Indian onions have remained stable.

According to a search in Shyambazar, the largest wholesale market for onions in the capital, a kg of domestic onion is being sold at Rs 60 to Rs 72 per kg, up from Rs 75 to Rs 80 on the previous day. On the other hand, imported Indian onions are being sold at Rs 50 to 55 per kg. However, some traders are selling wasted onions at Tk 40 per kg.

On the other hand, looking at various retail markets, it has been seen that on Monday, like the last two days, a kilo of domestic onion was sold at 80 to 90 rupees. Imported Indian onions are sold for 60 to 70 rupees.

Asked about the overall situation of onions, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi said, "India has suddenly stopped exporting onions to Bangladesh without any forecast, which has created instability in the country's market."

However, unscrupulous traders are taking advantage of the fact that ordinary people are buying more onions than they need. There is nothing to panic about. The country has adequate stocks of onions. With this stockpile, you can go blind for the next two and a half to three months. Onion import has also started from the alternative market. So he advised buyers not to buy more onions than they need.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, the country has an annual demand of about 2.5 million tons of onions. More has been produced this year. However, 20 to 25 percent is lost in collection and storage. As a result, the actual production is more than 19 lakh tons. The rest is imported. 90 to 95 percent of it comes from India.

The Commerce Ministry says a syndicate has worked to destabilize the country's onion market. There is a class of dishonest businessmen associated with this syndicate. Those who have created artificial crises have raised the price of onions abnormally overnight. Unnecessary price hike of onion has caused misery to the common man. Embarrassed the government. This cycle did the same last year. Due to which the price of onion rose to Rs 300 per kg last year.

It is learned that the members of four intelligence agencies of the government are going to the field jointly to find the members of these opportunistic syndicates. The four intelligence agencies will jointly do the job. Although they work regularly in market monitoring, this time the context is different. It is learned that they have been sent to the field with some additional responsibilities.
 

According to Commerce Ministry sources, they have already received various information about the members of the syndicate causing instability in the onion market. To verify this information, they are searching more extensively in different parts of the country and in the market. The information collected by them has reached the concerned quarters of the government. It is learned that the concerned quarters will take necessary action on the basis of this information.

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