Import of onion through Dinajpur’s Hili land port has started after a long period of five months following withdrawal of ban export by Indian government.
The import started with the arrival of onion-laden trucks from India at 6:30pm on Tuesday.
“Ma Bharti International” of India has exported 30 tons of onion which has been imported by RSD Enterprise of Bogra.
Importer’s representative Ahmed Ali said: “After the Indian government lifted the ban, the importers completed all activities, including IP and LC opening. But the Indian government has imposed 40% export duty. Following this, the price of imported onion stands at Tk65-70p per kg. But the price in the local market is even lower. As a result, many people are not interested in importing onions this time.
Mentioning that they had to pay Tk5.45lakh for importing five tons of onions, he added that they needed to pay Tk2 lakh duty to the Bangladesh government.
Sohrab Hossain, public relations officer of Hili Land Port, said that onion import has started after a long period of closure.
As the perishable goods perish quickly in the heat, it will be released quickly after the customs process.
Earlier, India imposed a ban on onion exports on December 7 last year citing the onion crisis and rising prices. Since then the import was suspended. The ban was lifted on May 4.
After that, 20 importers of Hili land port got permission to import 27,000 tons of onion.