Indian onion price drops Tk 5 per kg in Hili

The price of Indian onions has dropped to Tk 10-15 per kilogram at Hili land port in Dinajpur as import from India resumed on Saturday.

On Thursday, the kitchen essential was sold at Tk 40 to Tk 45 per kilogram in the port, but on Sunday it was being sold at Tk 35 to Tk 36 per kg.

The traders at the land Port said that the price will come down further when the newly produced onion will start arriving.

With the import, the price of locally produced onions has started dropping in the markets in the district.

Meanwhile, low-income people including wholesalers were feeling happy with the reduction of prices.

An onion trader at Hili land port said that trucks carrying the kitchen essential had to wait on the queues for four days in Indian part on the occasion of Kali Puja, a religious festival of Hindus.

As a result, onion imports declined last week. Due to the high demand in the domestic market, the prices went up.

In addition, Nasik and Indore varieties of onions have already started growing in the Indian subcontinents. These varieties of onions usually enter into the country at the end of November.

“Therefore, the price will come down further,” said an importer on condition of anonymity.

Harun Ur Rashid, the president of the Importer and Exporter group of Hili Land port, said that India has fixed the minimum import cost of each ton of onion to Bangladesh at US $250.

Some 209 tonnes of onions were imported in 9 trucks through the port on Thursday, 485 tons were imported in 18 trucks on Saturday which is the highest onion import compared to last few days.

Even on Sunday, onion import continued through the port. Since onion is a raw material, the port authorities have taken all necessary measures to ensure that the importers can unload it from the port quickly, according to the authorities of the land port.