Although wholesale onion prices in Chattogram have barely moved up, retail prices are high, hitting middle and low-income buyers who are struggling to afford onions.
Depending on quality, onions are selling for Tk 22 to Tk 45 a kg wholesale, but retail prices are higher. For the past two weeks shoppers paid Tk 70-75 a kg; onions are now selling for Tk 60-65. Although wholesale prices have fallen, retail prices have not followed, so buyers are not getting the benefit. In Khatunganj, Chattogram's wholesale market, Myanmar onions are selling for Tk 20 to Tk 35 and Indian onions for Tk 40 to Tk 45. Officials said the administration was also keeping a close watch on the market.
Buyers suspect a syndicate
Hafez Ahmed, a shopper from the Muradpur area, said he did not know why retail onion prices were so high. "We have to buy onions at Tk 65-70. How can ordinary people like us afford onions at these prices?" He said that while wholesale prices were not high, a syndicate might be behind it.
Mohammad Idris, general secretary of the Hamidullah Bazar Traders' Association in Khatunganj, said every warehouse in Khatunganj was full of onions and the wholesale price had gradually fallen to Tk 20-22. "There is no syndicate," he said, adding that onion prices were now on the way down.
S M Nazer Hossain, president of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) in Chattogram, said consumers were still not benefiting even though wholesale prices had fallen. "In this country's market system, when the price of something rises everyone raises it, but when it falls not everyone lowers it," he said. Retail prices should have fallen along with wholesale prices, and strict action was needed.
Sources in the traditional Khatunganj market said onions were stacked in front of the wholesale shops and every warehouse was full. Wholesalers were selling Burmese onions for as little as Tk 20-22 a kg, while Indian onions sold for Tk 40 and Tk 45 depending on quality. A week earlier, Indian onions had sold for Tk 50 to Tk 55.
Source: Bangladesh Pratidin. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.
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