Onion prices refuse to be reined in, even though the government has strengthened market monitoring and taken steps to import vegetables from countries other than India. After India banned the export of onions, the prices of the essential item have shot up -- reaching Tk. 120 yesterday. The government says it is still monitoring the market and trying to reduce the shortage of onions by importing them from other countries like Egypt and Turkey. Some people, however, allege that onion prices could not be contained due to lack of proper monitoring of the wholesale markets. A section of businessmen are said to be taking advantage of the sudden Indian export ban from September 29. Commerce minister Tipu Munshi said consumers may have to suffer for a few more days till the yield of new onions begins next month. He also said that the market would normalise with the arrival of the new supplies from other sources soon. According to the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB), the price of onions was Tk. 50-60 per kg only three months ago, but it reached Tk. 100 a kg soon after India imposed the ban.

Mobile courts under the commerce ministry carried out drives in wholesale markets and at the district level to control the markets. With these initiatives, onion prices initially came down to Tk. 80 per kg. But they again shot up after a few days, reaching Tk. 120 per kg. The retailers blame the shortage of supply for the increase and blame the wholesalers for it. Commerce Secretary Md Jafar Uddin said the mobile courts penalised around 2,000 businessmen for hiking onion prices without reason. The mobile courts realised about Tk. 2 crore from them as fine.

A mobile court yesterday also fined Shambazar wholesale market Tk. 70,000 for selling onions at higher rates and its failure to show documents to support the charging of additional prices.

Jafar Uddin said the prices of all vegetables, including onions, increased due to the rainfall during the past several days. The prices also increased as this was a lean period for the vegetable, he added.

The commerce secretary said new supplies of onion would arrive within a couple of days. He expressed hope that onion prices would come down soon.

He also said the commerce ministry has been continuing to monitor markets to check onion prices while also ensuring that the vegetable item gets sold at Tk 45 per kg.

Meanwhile, a retail trader at Mirpur Section-10 said the local onion was being sold at Tk. 120 per kg and the Indian variety at Tk. 115 yesterday.

He said the prices may not drop till new onions arrive in the market next month.