Onion prices climb back to Tk 150 per kg

Prices of local varieties of onions again reached Tk 150 per kilogramme (kg) in different kitchen markets in Dhaka while hitting as much as Tk 165 per kg in certain cities outside the capital, deepening the woes of low and fixed-income people.
In November 2023, local varieties of the popular cooking ingredient were being sold for Tk 150 per kg in Dhaka, but prices had settled below that point since, according to traders.
Muzahidul Islam, a grocer in Pallabi Extension area of the capital, said prices of local varieties of onions saw gradual increments for more than a week. He was selling local varieties for Tk 140 to Tk 150 per kg today.
According to him, wholesalers are not getting local varieties of onions as per demand, so prices are quite high.
The sudden hike in prices comes as food inflation has hovered above 10 percent since April this year, according to data of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
Data from the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) shows that local varieties of onions were selling for Tk 130 to Tk 150 per kg today compared to Tk 110 to Tk 130 a week ago.
Meanwhile, imported onions were fetching Tk 80 to Tk 120 per kg today, down 4.76 percent from Tk 100 to Tk 110 a week prior, according to TCB data.
In the past year, prices of local onions have increased by 40 percent and imported onions by 25 percent, TCB data shows.
Mohammad Abdul Mazed, general secretary of the Shyambazar Onion Wholesalers Association, said local varieties of onion were being sold at wholesale for Tk 130 to 135 per kg today, up from Tk 120 to 125 just a week ago.
He said they were only getting enough to meet 20 to 25 percent of demand, which is why prices have increased so much.
Mazed believed prices would come down within three months after new onions hit the market.
The agriculture ministry claims Bangladesh produced 34 lakh tonnes of onion this year. Although that is enough to meet domestic demand, the ministry says that another 6 to 7 lakh tonnes will have to be imported as much of the local yield is wasted due to a lack of cold storage facilities.
However, traders in Shyambazar, a major onion-selling hub, said local output was about 20 percent below the agriculture ministry’s estimate due to crop losses amid adverse weather in February.
Onion prices have increased by Tk 50 per kg over the past five days in retail markets in Pabna, the biggest onion producing hub in the country.
Besides, prices of imported onions increased by Tk 20 to Tk 30 per kg over the same period.
When this reporter visited Pabna’s Boro Bazar, the biggest retail market in the district, on Monday noon, each kg of onion was selling for Tk 160 to Tk 165.
Prices have been increasing since Thursday by a minimum of Tk 10 a day, said Md Rafikul Islam, a vendor at the market.
Speaking to The Daily Star, Rabiul Islam, a wholesale trader at the Pushpopara Bazar in the same city, said the price of each maund (around 37 kgs) of local onions increased by Tk 2,000 in the past five to six days.
They were fetching Tk 5,600 to Tk 6,000 per maund last Monday, he said.
Noor Alam Chowdhury, senior scientific officer of the Spice Research Centre in Bogura, told The Daily Star on October 25 that retail prices of onions normally increase by Tk 10 to Tk 15 per kg around October.
“This is because many growers plant early winter varieties of onions, which will be sold in the market in December-January. To do so, many farmers use old onions and produce seeds from them at this time,” he said.
Due to this, the demand for onions increases around October each year, he said.