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A consumer rights body urged the government on Sunday to take immediate steps to contain skyrocketing prices of onion, an essential kitchen item.
It also observed that a 'strong syndicate' has been active for the last several months to push the prices higher.
The Conscious Consumers' Society (CCS) made the call at a press conference at the National Press Club, said a statement.
Presenting a keynote paper, Executive Director of the CCS Palash Mahmud said the onion prices have been spiralling up over the last four months, causing the consumers to incur an estimated loss of Tk 32 billion as they had to buy the item at a price four to five times higher than the usual price.
The market data, compiled by the CCS, revealed that prices of onion inflated to Tk 140-150 per kilograms in recent times from Tk 30-Tk 32 per kg four months ago.
Onion started getting pricier in early July, a month before Eid-ul-Azha, when the price surged to Tk 45 per kg from Tk 30 even though the supply from both the local and foreign sources was as usual, the CCS said.
Palash Mahmud said a strong syndicate has been actively manipulating the price hike.
"Although 13 members of the syndicate in Chattogram have been identified, no action was taken against them by the government," said Mr Mahmud, adding that such inaction on the part of the government has frustrated the people.
According to the CCS research, the rational price of the spice should have been Tk 30-32, but it is now selling for up to five times higher while the traders were giving lame excuses for the price hike.
The CCS said the domestic demand for onion is around 2.4 million tonnes a year, two-thirds or 1.6 million tonne of which are sourced from local growers.
Contacted, Aynal Hossain, a retailer at Karwan Bazar in the capital, said the local variety of onion was selling at Tk 130-Tk 135 per kg while the Burmese variety at Tk 120-Tk 125.
"The prices seem to be going down. We bought onion from the wholesale traders at prices lower by Tk 10-Tk 15 a kg," he said.