Commerce State Minister Ahsanul Islam Titu said that the onion train from India will reach the country tonight. We will deliver it to dealers within a day. Within a day, open sale will be done in Dhaka and Chittagong at Tk 40 per kg through TCB. So that this product becomes available quickly and easily.

He said these things at the end of the task force meeting on ‘commodity price and market situation review’ in the conference room of the Ministry of Commerce at the Secretariat on Sunday (March 31).

The state minister said that since onion is a perishable product, 1,650 metric tons of onions will arrive here in the first train. Besides, there is enough sugar in the market. Our manufacturers have also assured us.

He said, we are improving. If your cooperation continues, we will be able to make market management more transparent and better during Eid-ul-Fitr and beyond.
Titu said that although the price of rice has increased by 25 percent in the international market in the last 1 year, the price has not increased by more than 2 to 4 percent in our local market. Crude soybean oil and palm oil prices rose by 11 to 13 percent in international markets last month. Despite the increase in the price of oil in the international market, with the help of our importers and mill owners, we have been able to sell oil in the open market at Tk 163 and Tk 149 per litre.

The Minister of State for Commerce said that the prices of all things have decreased. Our Director General of Agriculture Marketing Department is present. However, he faced a lot of controversies after revealing the rational pricing of 29 products. We are devising an outline of miller-level consumption, wholesale-level sales and retail-level sales of variety-wise rice, deriving from this method narrow rice, thin rice and coarse rice. We will make it effective through the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Food and Ministry of Commerce. It will be effective from next Baisakh. With everyone’s combined efforts, we have managed to keep the market price at a tolerable level, we hope to be able to maintain it till next Eid.

Why will onions be sold at the rate of Tk 40 per kg only in Dhaka and Chittagong? In response to such a question, the state minister said, we think that the demand is met by the onions produced outside Dhaka and Chittagong. If the price of onion in Dhaka and Chittagong is under control, the price of onion in other places will also be under control in a short time.