CHATTOGRAM, Oct 05: Onion prices continue to be on the uptrend in the port city even as the local market saw an apparent a stable supply in the last one week.
At the retail level, onion was selling at Tk 60-62 per kilogram on Tuesday, up from Tk 48-52 a kg on Friday.
Sources said the kitchen staple was trading at Tk 52-53 a kg at the wholesale markets on Tuesday, which was Tk 45-46 on Friday.
While visiting different markets on Tuesday, this correspondent found that onion supply was not insufficient in the city and that grocers were selling onion at Tk 62 a kg while the price was Tk 60-61 the previous day.
Traders at the city's main wholesale hubs at Khatunganj, Assadganj and Chaktai were trading the widely-used cooking ingredient at Tk 52-53 a kg on Tuesday.
Both consumers and the city grocers said onion prices have witnessed a rising trend both at wholesale and retail levels in Chattogram since the fag end of the last month.
A grocer at the city's Bakshirhat market said that on Friday, the key spice was sold at Tk 48-52 a kg at the retails while it was traded at Tk 45-46 at the wholesale. "But, today (Tuesday), the price is Tk 60-62 a kg at the retails which is Tk 52-53 at the wholesales," he added.
He also said that the price of imported variety, (Myanmar onion) was trading at Tk 56-57 at the retails Tuesday which was Tk 46-47 at the wholesales.
It is alleged that a section of importers in connivance with big importers are hoarding imported onions at warehouses (storages) without taking the same to local markets for selling.
City retailers and small traders also alleged that some hoarders were piling up imported onions at godowns in Khatunganj, Chaktai and Assadganj areas presumably with a motive to stockpile the spice and waiting for further price rise in the local market to sell those later to make hefty profit.
However, a leader of Chattogram Onion Importers Association (COIA) on Tuesday claimed that there was no sufficient onion stock in the local markets at present.
Mohammed Idris, General Secretary of the association, said since the current stock of onion is short in Chattogram, the wholesalers are selling per kg onion with a little bit high rate. He said: "Wholesalers are trading onion at Tk 52 a kg. Price of onion depends on supply."
Homemaker Shahana Begum, who came to Reajuddin Bazar for buying some essentials, said: "We are reading reports on high onion prices in the local newspaper every day but no impact has been noticed on the markets."
The housewife said she bought onions at Tk 62 a kg Tuesday.
Mohammed Shariar, a city-dweller and buyer at a retail market, also said that he purchased onion at Tk 62 per kg today.
Haradhon Ghosh, a retail trader at Reajuddin Bazar said, "We are selling Indian onion. So, the price of our onion is higher than that of Myanmar onion."
Afsar Uddin, a retailer at Kajirdewri Bazar said: "We are selling the imported onion at Tk 60 a kg at the retail market today."
Consumers in the city said, the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) has not been selling onion in the port city for a long time.
As the state-owned TCB has stopped selling onion in the city for a long time, the item has got costlier now, he noted, adding "The price of onion is not controlled at the retail markets now."
Meanwhile, TCB imported 476 metric tonnes (MT) of onion on September 27 while another ship loaded with 1,652 MT onion of TCB from Turkey will arrive at the Chittagong Port on October 7.
Jamal Uddin, Director of TCB in Chattogram said, "We will begin onion sale though trucks in different areas of the city sometime from the current week. We will provide 250 kg onion to each truck every day for sale at subsidised rates. We will sell onion at Tk 30 per kg."
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