The Ministry of Agriculture in a notification on Sunday said that newly harvested murikata and summer onion have started arriving in the market, and there is no reason for hiking prices of the essential item.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, each year murikata onion is cultivated in about 50 thousand hectares of land, producing about 8 lakh tons. This year, summer onions have been planted on about 500 hectares of land, with harvest expected at about 50 thousand tons.
The notification also mentioned that these murikata and summer varieties of onion have started coming in the market and it will be available for 3 to 3 months and a half. After that, the main variety of onion will start coming in the market and the production may be around 26 to 28 lakh tons.
However, the local variety of onion was selling at Tk1000 per 5 kilograms and the same quantity of newly harvested onions at Tk 650 in the wholesale market of Karwan Bazar on Sunday. The imported onion sells at Tk 750 to Tk 800 per 5 kgs in the wholesale market.
Bangladesh imports onion mainly from India, China, Myanmar and Pakistan.
The prices of onion almost doubled after India, the largest supplier of the item, suspended its export until March next year.
