DHAKA — Bangladesh will decide to allow onion imports if prices do not fall to acceptable levels within this week, Commerce Adviser Sheikh Bashir Uddin said Sunday.
Bashir Uddin made the announcement at a briefing for reporters on the current onion market at the commerce ministry’s conference room.
“The country has had a bumper onion harvest. There is no shortage — stocks are sufficient,” the adviser said. “New onions will reach the market within two weeks. If the market does not stabilize within four to five days, we will decide to issue import approvals.”
The ministry has already received 2,800 applications to import onions, he said. Import approvals will be issued if market prices do not come down to a tolerable level within the next four to five days.
Calling the sudden price increase unjustified, Bashir Uddin said several factors had pushed prices up: the end of the harvest season, sudden heavy rains and weight loss in onions during storage.
“Onion prices rose abruptly. We are monitoring the market. There are sufficient onion stocks in the country,” he said. “New onions will reach the market within two weeks, so we have decided to issue import approvals if the market does not stabilize within four to five days.”
Asked whether hoarders or syndicates were behind the price increase, the adviser said he had no specific information on either. “A temporary crisis has developed. I hope it will pass quickly,” he said.
He said the ministry had received reports that onions were being stockpiled across the border for export to Bangladesh.
If 10 percent of the 2,800 import applications were approved, the market would be flooded with onions and farmers would be hurt, Bashir Uddin said. “That is why we are observing the situation in its entirety.”
Commerce Ministry Secretary Mahbubur Rahman was also present at the briefing.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report