Amid reports that India is trying to pass unwanted imported onions on to Bangladesh, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi has said the government has not received any such request.
After India banned onion export in September, prices shot up from Tk 30-40 per kg to Tk 250 in local market as the country depended mostly on imported produce to meet domestic demands.
The prices eased as Bangladesh started importing onions from other countries like Turkey, Egypt, China and Myanmar while local produces also hit the market. Onion prices(local) are hovering around Tk 100 per kg now while the imported ones are around Tk 80 per kg, as per a bdnews24.com report.
India has also started importing onions to keep prices down and meet domestic demands. But state governments have rejected the onions imported by the centre questioning the quality. Now the federal government is reportedly trying to sell 18,000 tonnes of unwanted onions to Bangladesh.
“We are yet to get any proposal,” Munshi said when asked by a reporter after a cabinet committee meeting at the Secretariat in Dhaka on Thursday.
“They [India] talked via the foreign ministry. They may make a proposal. We don’t know anything about the issue yet,” he added.
Asked what the government would do if it got the proposal, the minister said, “We will consider it if we get it. We are importing [from other countries]. If their [India’s] proposal is suitable, we’ll see. But it’s not under our consideration now.”
