Onion, garlic getting cheaper

Yasir Wardad | Published: March 04, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Prices of onion and garlic started falling, thanks to the arrival of newly-harvested crops from across the country, traders said.
Prices of local varieties of onion (Murikata and Faridpuri), which jumped to Tk 45 per kg in the wholesale market and Tk 52 a kg at the retail level seven days back, have dropped to Tk 32 and Tk 42 per kg in the city's wholesale and retail markets.
Supply of Murikata variety declined as Faridpuri variety (also known as Haali) hit the market with a good volume helping reduce prices of both the local and imported varieties.
Md Anisur Rahman, a vendor at Banalata Kitchen under New Market area in the city, said onion of Haali variety sold at Tk 40-42 per kg and Murikata at Tk 35-36 per kg for the last three days which was Tk 48-52 per kg earlier.
Indian varieties were selling at Tk 32-34 per kg and Burmese varieties at Tk 30-32 per kg, he said.
He said the prices declined at Shyambazar, Karwan Bazar and Rayer Bazar wholesale markets by Tk 8-10 per kg in the last few days.
Narayan Chandra Saha, a leading spice importer at the Shyambazar in the city, told the FE on Monday that the prices of onion increased earlier due to decline in supply of Murikata variety and a little late arrival of Faridpuri variety.
He said plunge in supplies and higher transportation costs from Faridpur, Gopalganj, Rajbari, Jhenidah, Kushtia, Pabna, Meherpur and Chuadnaga were responsible for the hike in prices.
"The prices of onion have been reduced notably at farmers' end recently which is helping us to sell products at lower prices," he said.
Murikata and Faridpuri varieties had been selling between Tk 30 and Tk 34 per kg for the last three days at Shyambazar, he said.
A variety of onion from Meherpur and Chuadanga is being sold at only Tk 18-20 per kg at Shyambazar wholesale market, he said.
"But transport cost is still higher -- 80 per cent more than that of normal days," he said.
Another trader at Shyambazar said the media should be very careful in making reports on prices of commodities as these are very sensitive. Any fabricated news could have an adverse impact on the market.
"News which has no similarity with the market trend might confuse both traders and consumers as we witnessed in the past," he said.
Our correspondent in Faridpur district Anok Shahidi adds: Harvesting of Haali variety is going on in full swing in Faridpur and Gopalganj districts.
Newly-collected onion sold at Tk 950-1,000 per maund (40 kg) at Kanaipur mokam (local market of raw agro produce) in Faridpur Sadar upazila and Pukuria mokam at Bhanga upazila in the district on Monday which was Tk 1,250-1,300 per maund seven days back.
Kanaipur and Pukuria are two big mokams in the country, especially famous for onion, jute and garlic trading.
According to the Directorate General of Food (DGoF) and the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the country's annual demand for onion hovers between 1.8 million and 2.0 million tonnes of which the country produces 1.6 million tonnes.
The ministry of agriculture has fixed the target to produce 1.9 million tonnes of onion in the current fiscal year from 0.186 million hectares of land.
Meanwhile, prices of local varieties of garlic were reduced to Tk 50 at the wholesale and Tk 70 per kg at the retail level which were Tk 80-90 per kg two weeks back.
The plunge in local variety also helped cut prices of imported Chinese variety, traders said.
Md Arshad Ali, trader at Nawabganj Bazar in the city said newly-harvested crops from Natore, Pabna, Faridpur, Rajbari and Bhola districts have started entering the city which helped lower garlic prices.
He said the prices will remain lower for the next few months following the harvest of local varieties.
He said prices of Chinese varieties also were reduced and sold at Tk 80-90 per kg, a Tk 10 decline in the last two weeks.
He said the prices of garlic would have been much lower had there been no political chaos that caused disruption in normal supply and a substantial hike in transportation cost.
According to the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE), the country produces 0.27 million tonnes of garlic annually against the demand for more than 0.48 million tonnes.
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