Onion hoarding: Second day of raid on Bhomra Port
A government task force conducted a raid for the second day following reports of traders stockpiling onions in Bhomra land port in Satkhira in a bid to hike prices by creating an artificial supply crisis.
Executive Magistrate Abdullah Al Amin of Satkhira district, who led the drive, said, "An attempt is being made to create an artificial crisis ahead of Ramadan by stocking onions.
"This resulted in hiked prices in the kitchen markets. We conducted a drive today and found evidence of this."
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After the raid, conducted at around 1:00pm on Monday (20 March), the executive magistrate instructed importers at the port to sell stored onions with memos before Ramadan.
Saddam Hossain, owner of an importing company SR International, said that retail traders are increasing onion prices.
"There is a lot of onion but retailers are not coming to the port to buy it. They are increasing the price by syndicating," he said.
Earlier on Sunday (19 March), Bhomra land port was raided in a bid to hike prices by creating an artificial supply crisis.
Three importers were fined on charges of illegal stockpiling while many others shuttered their warehouses and fled.
Meanwhile, the price of onion in the retail market has increased by Tk8-10 as import of Indian onion has stopped since 15 March.
In the 10 days before the closure, 974 truckloads of Indian onions were imported through Bhomra port.
