Import duties have been cut, but they have had no effect on the market prices of onions and sugar. Onion prices have, however, fallen a little because supply has increased. Last Thursday the National Board of Revenue (NBR) issued a notification saying no duty would be charged on onion imports until 31 December; until now a 5 per cent import duty applied. For raw sugar imports, the regulatory duty has been cut by 10 per cent until 28 February next year.

The duty cuts were announced after sugar rose from Tk 70 a kg to Tk 80-85 in a month and a half, and onions from Tk 40 a kg to Tk 80 in a week. Buyers were somewhat relieved. But visits to several markets in the capital on Sunday found sugar still selling at the old price, while onions had eased to Tk 60-65.

Housewife Nazma Sultana, shopping at Town Hall market in the capital at midday, told Prothom Alo: "Prices of almost everything have gone up during the coronavirus, but income has not. Many organisations that cut salaries because of the coronavirus have not restored them. When I heard about the duty cuts on onions and sugar I thought I could buy them cheaper than before. But coming to the market I saw that a decision on paper stays on paper."

At Rampura, Town Hall and Karwan Bazar markets, loose sugar was selling at Tk 80 a kg and packaged sugar at Tk 85-86. Town Hall market had no loose sugar in stock at all. Grocer Jafar Hossain at Town Hall market told Prothom Alo: "The government has fixed the retail price of loose sugar at Tk 74 a kg, but we have to buy it from the dealer at Tk 78. Then when the mobile court comes, we are fined. So I am not keeping loose sugar in the shop."

At Karwan Bazar, the Abdul Monem Group's Igloo brand and City Group's Teer brand sugar were in stock, but Meghna Group's Fresh brand was not. Md Ishaq, a dealer of Fresh sugar at Karwan Bazar, said they had had no sugar supply for 15 days and did not know when it would come.

On 9 September the Bangladesh Sugar Refiners Association set the maximum retail price at Tk 74 a kg for loose sugar and Tk 75 for packaged sugar, but this has yet to show in the market.

Rasheduzzaman, executive secretary of the Sugar Refiners Association, told Prothom Alo on Sunday that although the NBR had agreed to cut the import duty, no new sugar price had yet been set, so market prices remained as before. Only once a new price is fixed will it be possible to say what sugar will sell for at retail.

In the middle of last week onions sold for Tk 70 to 75 a kg. On Sunday, in several retail markets in the capital, the price had fallen a little to Tk 60 to 65. Wholesalers say the fall is mainly due to increased supply. Narayan Saha, a wholesaler at Shyambazar in the capital, said the import duty cut had had no effect on prices. He told Prothom Alo that with shipments arriving from India and Myanmar, onion supply is now quite good. Indian onions are selling wholesale at Tk 50 to 54 a kg and Myanmar onions at Tk 30 to 40, while local onions sell at Tk 50 to 52 a kg.

Source: Prothom Alo. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.