Country must import six lakh tonnes of onion
The country has a stock of 5.25 lakh tonnes of locally grown onion and it'll need six lakh tonnes more to meet up domestic requirements before next key harvesting season, typically the March-April period.
Therefore, the nation must import six lakh tonnes of onion to plug the deficit.
And, it will consider alternatives to India for the import, said the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission (BTTC) in a latest report on the creation and market circumstance of onion.
This is to avoid the risk of price spirals as you will find a probability of the neighbouring nation imposing an export restriction to curb soaring prices in its domestic market, the BTTC reasoned.
The report said Indian onion makes up about 95 % of what was annually imported, and prices of the bulb are on the upward there as flooding this season damaged Kharif crops, that's those planted before monsoon and harvested in autumn.
"The commission thinks that solution options for onion imports is highly recommended as there is probability of export restriction to curb price spike there," said the BTTC in the article provided to the commerce ministry the other day.
The report also suggested that the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) go for imports to improve public stocks, sell onion in the domestic market, address problems linked to transport and strengthen monitoring.
The state agency's tips come as prices of the popular bulb shot up in the past fortnight, triggered by increased import prices of Indian onion as flooding induced by major rains damaged crops in southern India, according to some Indian media.
Last year, India imposed an export ban over September 29, causing prices of the main element cooking ingredient to skyrocket to a historical high of Tk 250 per kilogramme (kg) in Bangladesh.
India lifted the restriction in March this season. Yet remembrances of rationing consumption remains to linger in the minds of many.
At the grocery and perishables market segments in Dhaka, vendors sold imported onion at Tk 45-Tk 50 per kg yesterday. The costs were 73 per cent bigger from the Tk 25-Tk 30 charged a month ago.
Consumers also had to get locally grown onion in higher prices than before.
Prices of area bulbs increased 60 per cent to Tk 55-Tk 65 per kg yesterday in Dhaka's markets from Tk 35-Tk 40, as per data published by the state-run TCB.
The BTTC said it analysed production, imports and demand for onion for the year.
Teams of the firm also visited key onion producing districts in the north, west and central regions and collected production and stock info for the existing year.
The BTTC said six districts -- Pabna, Faridpur, Rajbari, Rajshahi, Kushtia and Manikganj -- account for 80 % of the gross annual production of the bulb.
Farmers bagged 25.5 lakh tonnes of onion within the last harvesting time of March-April, 2020 and the marketable source stands at only over 19 lakh tonnes as post-harvest and storage losses take away up to 25 per cent of the production.
The report said locally grown onion meets 65-70 % of the yearly dependence on practically 25 lakh tonnes. The others is imported.
This season, onion import dropped 35 % year-on-year to 4.36 lakh tonnes in the January-August period from 6.75 lakh tonnes, explained the BTTC report.
"It appears that a higher volume of locally grown bulbs was consumed this year just as imports declined," said the commission.
And now, the united states has 5.25 lakh tonnes of locally manufactured onions.
As the key harvest of the veggie is six months away, the BTTC explained a total of 11 lakh tonnes of onion were needed to meet consumption requirement of the rest of the year.
And over fifty percent of the required quantity should be imported, it observed.
As India grapples with soaring prices, the BTTC said Myanmar, Afghanistan, Egypt, Turkey, China, Malaysia, Pakistan and holland could be alternative sources for import.
A commerce ministry official, seeking to remain unnamed, said the TCB already started selling onion on view market at a cost below the market rates. "It has additionally floated a tender initiative to import onion," he said.
