“The imported onions are yet to be supplied to the market because of transportation problem,” he said while talking to reporters after attending a seminar on “Ease of doing business: Way forward” organised by Bangladesh Chamber of Industries (BCI) at a city hotel.
Some 12,000 tonnes onions imported from foreign sources will reach Chattogram port on Nov 29, said minister Munshi said.
He said Bangladesh has to import 25 percent onion to meet local demand. Of them, 90 percent is imported from India but unfortunately India banned its onion export to Bangladesh on September 29 that caused the problem, he added.
The prices of onion, a common item in Bangladesh kitchens, soared again on Friday, fuelled by higher demands and a supply crunch as the imported bulbs are yet to hit the markets.
Bangladesh has been struggling to control the overheated prices of onion which reached an all-time high in recent days following the export ban by India.
Officials say the ban is likely to remain in place until February next year.
“We had to import 1 lakh tonnes onion in September, October and November. We could manage 25000 tonnes locally…we had a shortfall of 75000 tonnes in September. So, some people took a chance to increase the price and so far 200 people have been detained,” he said.
Now onion is selling at Tk 45 per kg by the state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), and Tk 200 was spent to bring per kg onion from abroad by cargo planes, he added.
“It’s learning for us. So we’ve to become self-sufficient within two or three years so that we don’t need to import onion from other countries,” the minister said.
Talking about ease of doing business, the minister said the government is working to ease the business and investment in the country, and discussions are underway for signing Free Trade Area (FTA) with Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Indonesia.
Chaired by BCI President Anwarul-Ul-Alam Chowdhury, the seminar was attended, among others, by National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority Executive Chairman Md Sirazul Islam and FBCCI former President Md Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin.