Onion market has become volatile again as prices of the key spice increased by 77-80 per cent in a single day.
Retailers and consumers see no signs of easing the prices even after the arrival of the early harvested variety, known as 'murikata' in the market.
According to traders, a massive decline in the supply of murikata has caused this price rise.
Market observers put emphasis on random market watch alongside higher imports to help commoners.
Murikata retailed at Tk 180-200 a kg on Friday which was Tk 120-130 on Thursday and Tk 100-110 on Wednesday.
The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) recorded a 77-80-per cent hike in local onion prices in two days.
The hike also caused a surge in Turkish, Egyptian and Burmese imported onion prices up to Tk 70-110 a kg which was Tk 50-90 on Thursday.
The market witnessed a massive hike after a month.
The onion market has remained explosive since October 2019 with an Indian ban on onion export.
Breaking records, onion prices reached an all-time high at Tk 260-270 a kg across the country in mid-November.
Prices started falling from the first week of December with the beginning of harvest of the early variety.
Onion retailed between Tk 50 and Tk 120 a kg in December.
When asked, Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) additional director (horticulture) Dr Md Jahangir Alam said murikata is grown to collect onion seeds.
The seed is used for seasonal onion farming.
The seasonal onion, locally known as 'haali', will be available from February, Mr Alam said.
But murikata meets the demand from December to January.
DAE field service wing said it has targeted to bring 0.21 million hectares under onion farming this year to produce 2.3 million tonnes of the spice.
However, the wing does not specify the area reserved for murikata and seasonal varieties.
Shyambazar trader Ismail said the supply of murikata from Pabna, Faridpur, Kushtia, Jashore, Bogura and Dhaka has fallen by 50 per cent in the past three days.
He and his two fellows have got only one truck (13 tonnes) of onion from Rajbari in the past two days.
Mr Ismail said supply from Faridpur, Natore, Pabna, Meherpur, Jhenidah has also declined.
Untimely rainfall caused a blow to onion farming in many districts, he concluded.
However, Shyambazar traders sold local onion at Tk 165-170 a kg as of Friday afternoon.
Onion was traded at Tk 170-180 a kg wholesale at Karwanbazar, Mohammadpur Krishi Market, Beribandh-Rayerbazar, Mirpur section-1 on the day.
Department of Agricultural Marketing asst director TM Rashed Khan said prices of early variety rose as it was traded at Tk 120-125 in Faridpur, Dhaka and Kushtia on Friday morning.
It was Tk 80-85 on Thursday, he mentioned.
Prakritik Krishi (Natural Farming) director Md Delwar Jahan said 'murikata' area might have shrunk this year as farmers sold seeds amid high prices of onion between October and November.
"Farmers found selling those onions or consuming more profitable than sowing," he argued.
Mr Jahan said this trend might cause a decline in murikata cultivation this year.
Seed prices increased to Tk 5,000-5,500 a kg this season which was hardly Tk 1,500 in last season, he stated.
If farmers cannot manage seeds, Mr Jahan predicts, the production of seasonal onion might decline.
Meanwhile, Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) secretary Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan said prices of a specific item might increase amid low supply.
"But the rising prices of onion at such exorbitant rates are abnormal," he cited.
He said there is an ample supply of the produce, thanks to the local harvest and imports at below Tk 30 a kg.
Market monitoring should be stricter to prevent any artificial shortage of the produce, he added.
The CAB secretary also put special emphasis on the proper data for both the government and traders to fix import and marketing policy of the spice.
However, commerce minister at a meeting on Thursday said the country faces no onion crisis now.
A total of 0.2 million tonnes of onion will be imported within March 31 ahead of the upcoming Ramadan by both public and private sectors.
The TCB's open market sale (OMS) through 200 trucks across the country at Tk 35 a kg, however, continues excepting Fridays. TCB spokesperson Humayun Kabir said they have enough stocks and OMS programme will continue.
The number of OMS trucks might be raised if required.
