The first consignments from Egypt and Turkey are expected to land in the middle of next week, Secretary Md Jafar Uddin told bdnews24.com on Friday as the retail prices of the cooking ingredient increased up to Tk 240 a kg.

“The onions will be sold through the TCB (Trading Corporation of Bangladesh)across the country after the consignments arrive next Monday or Tuesday,” he said.

He did not specify any amount.

The TCB is offering only two kg of onion at Tk 45 a kg at some points of Dhaka and other cities and towns. But desperate crowds of low-income people scrambled in queues for the cooking ingredient on the street next to the Secretariat in the capital on Thursday.

“The situation has reached such a point that the government is importing onion itself for the first time,” the secretary remarked.

Onion import through airways would continue until new produces from the Bangladesh farmers and shipment of consignments through the sea arrive, the secretary added.

The government efforts such as prioritising onion import, drives against dishonest businesses, and sales through TCB have failed because many issues related to the global market have played a role in driving the prices, according to Jafar.

“But there will be no outcome from these analyses now,” he added.

‘Manik’, who manages Amanat Bhandar at the wholesale onion market in Dhaka’s Shyambazar, told bdnews24.com that nothing was working because of short supply from Myanmar and the Middle East.

“The situation won’t improve without a supply boost,” he said.

‘Masud’, who runs a mini superstore in Mirpur’s Rupnagar, said he was selling onion at Tk 180 per kg on Thursday morning but raised the price to Tk 210 after finding out that others were charging higher than what he was asking for.

On Friday, he found wholesale price increased to Tk 220 a kg.

The grocers in the area did not collect much onion in past few days due to high prices, Masud said.

Jahangir Alam, who supplies onion to the capital from Faridpur, claimed supply of onion dropped ten-fold in the markets of the district.

“Now the traders are crowding around any farmer who brings even one sack of onion. So, the price is skyrocketing naturally,” he said.