Onion import falls due to lower production abroad

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Sarwar Zahan
The import of onion has declined during the first eight months of the current fiscal year due to lower production of the commodity in India and Myanmar, Commerce Ministry sources said.
Bangladesh Bank sources said the opening of letters of credit for onion dropped by 12.68 per cent and settlement of LCs has declined by 26.65 pr cent during the same period.
The price of onion has increased by around 98 per cent over the year and it was sold at Tk 38.00-Tk 42.00 per kg Saturday in the local market, Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) market monitoring report showed.
The onion was sold at Tk 16.00-Tk 18.00 a year back.
Customers in the retail market said, the prices of commodities shown in the TCB monitoring report are lower than the actual prices prevailing in the market.
The commerce ministry in its latest market review meeting has decided to maintain its four monitoring teams to collect information on market prices of essential commodities and take long term plan for controlling market prices, Commerce Ministry sources said.
The government is set to find new countries for importing onion to meet the demands during the holy month of Ramadan. The importers are not interested in importing onion from other countries, as it is a highly perishable item. They find it a high risk to import onion from countries other than India and Myanmar, sources said.
The government is considering involving TCB in importing onion from a third country, sources said.
The total annual demand for onion in the country has been estimated at around 1.4 million tonnes, while the total production a year is around 0.9 million tonnes, according to statistical information.
It indicates a gap of about 0.5 million tonnes of onion between production and requirement. Through imports, the traders play important roles in meeting the deficit. The import on onion has become difficult in the current season as there is no suitable country from which can be imported at ease, commerce ministry sources said.