The prices of onion continue to soar, as the key spice was sold at Tk 110-135 a kg in different areas of the city on Monday.
Local onion was sold at Tk 120-135 a kg, and onion of imported varieties was sold at Tk 110-120 a kg, according to the trading sources.
The current price - Tk 135 a kg - is the second highest after November 2012, when local onion price jumped to Tk 140 a kg, according to the Department of Agricultural Marketing (DAM).
Subsequently, queues before the government-run OMS trucks for buying onion increased significantly, as people thronged there to collect the spice at a subsidised rate of Tk 45 a kg.
The state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) recorded a further 20-24 per cent hike in onion prices in last three days.
Prices of the spice also increased by Tk 10-14 a kg at Shyambazar, Karwan Bazar and Beribadh wholesale markets in the city in last one week.
However, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi at a programme in the city on Monday said 7,000-8,000 tonnes of onion will be brought from Egypt by the first week of November, and there is no scope of its price fall until the consignments arrive from there.
"The shipments of onion are expected to reach the country within the first week of November. There's no scope for onion prices to come down until then."
"Hopefully, there'll be a positive impact on the market when the new consignments of onion will arrive."
The landing cost of onion, imported from Myanmar, jumped to Tk 70 per kg on Monday, which was Tk 42 about 15 days ago.
The minister opined that the current prices of onion are not justified, and these should have been much lower.
Meanwhile, a large quantity of onion is about to enter into the country soon through some big local importers.
The Ministry of Commerce (MoC) expects that the onion prices will come down in the local market shortly with the imported onion.
Following a request of the ministry, some importers are bringing in a large chunk of onion from Egypt and Turkey.
Prices of the key spice will come down in the market shortly after the consignments from the two countries arrive here, said a press release of the MoC on Monday.
Necessary steps have been taken to lessen LC (letter of credit) margin and interest rate on credit for importing onions, said the release.
"Steps have also been taken to speed up delivery process of the imported onions from the ports as well as to ensure their uninterrupted transportation to help stabilise prices."
The MoC also said there is no reason to be worried about the price hike, as both supply and stock of onions are adequate and satisfactory in the country.
The ministry will strengthen its monitoring further to keep onion prices stable in the market.
Besides, four monitoring teams are being deployed daily in Dhaka city to stabilise the prices of essentials, it added.
Onion market in Bangladesh started to be volatile after the Indian authorities concerned slapped an export ban from September 29 to stabilise prices of the spice in its own market.
The Hindustan Times, an Indian daily, reported last week that onion prices shot up to 100 rupee (nearly Tk 117) a kg in the capital city of New Delhi.
The onion prices witnessed 70-90 per cent hike in Bangladesh in just two days in the first week of this month (October) following the Indian export ban, according to the TCB.
Increased monitoring and repeated market vigilance helped to cut the onion prices in the country to some extent from the second week of October. But the prices again started increasing since the last one and a half weeks.
The TCB's onion sale through OMS trucks is continuing, as 35 tonnes of the produce are being distributed through 35 trucks at different points across the city.
Visiting some OMS truck points on the day, the FE correspondent found a huge gathering of consumers for purchasing subsidised onion.
Many of them became frustrated, as the sale ended so quickly amid huge demand.
"Only 35 tonnes of supply against the demand of 2,000 tonnes can hardly put any impact on the mainstream market prices of onion," said the Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Secretary Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan.
The TCB should take lesson from such crisis. The organisation should make a stock of best quality local onions from May to supply those during any emergency.
Mr Bhuiyan also said the market monitoring system should be strengthened further, so that the consumers can get imported onions at fair prices.
The country produced 1.9 million tonnes of onion, and imported another 1.1 million tonnes in this calendar year. Demand for the spice is the highest 2.4 million tonnes per year, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and the MoC.
