Indian onion import started

Indian onions are entering the country at low duty through Hili land port of Hakimpur upazila of Dinajpur. On Tuesday (September 17) evening, import started with 123 metric tons of onion entering the country through 4 trucks. The price of onion in the market has started to decrease due to this.

On Wednesday (September 18) in Dinajpur's Bahadur Bazar, domestic onion was sold at Tk 120 to Tk 130 per kg and imported onion at Tk 90 to Tk 95 per kg. Even yesterday this onion was being sold at the price of 110 taka. An onion trader in the market said that the price is expected to decrease further in the next few days.

The traders of Hili land port said that on September 13 of this month, the supply of onions in India will be increased by 20% from 40% duty and the export price will be reduced from 550 USD to 145 USD per ton to 405 USD. But the import of onion was stopped for the last two days as it was not connected to the Indian customs server. The import has started after overcoming that complication.

It is known that last year from December 8 to March 31, the Indian government stopped onion export on the pretext of internal crisis. Then in March it imposed a second round of bans for an indefinite period. Due to the shortage of onions in the country, the prices started to increase. After almost 5 months, on May 4, the ban was lifted by fixing a minimum export value of 550 USD and a duty rate of 40 percent.

Shahidul Islam Shahid, an onion importer of Hili land port, said that recently, India has increased the domestic supply of onion by reducing the import duty from 40 percent to 20 percent and reducing the minimum tariff from $550 to $405 per ton. Accordingly, the Indian exporter has also been talked to. But the import was not possible due to the previous 40 percent duty and $550 attached to the server. On Tuesday afternoon, after overcoming that complication, import through the port has started. The new rules have reduced the cost of imports by Rs 10-15 per tonne as the server is connected.