Some 50,000 metric tonnes (MTs) of onion imported from India will enter Bangladesh next week, State Minister for Commerce Ahsanul Islam Titu has said.

“The first truckload of onions will arrive from India next week. A total of 50,000 MTs of onion will enter the country gradually,” he said while speaking as the chief guest at a programme marking the ‘World Consumer Rights Day-2024’ at the ‘Osmani Memorial Auditorium’ in the city.

The theme of the day is ‘Smart Bangladesh Gori, Voktar Sarthey Krittim Buddhimotta Bebohar Kori’.

In his speech, Titu urged the businessmen and civil society representatives to come forward to control goods’ prices.

“We are working to strengthen the supply chain. We are working to control the prices of products during Ramadan. We have been able to reduce the price of oil. Now, pulses, chickpeas and sugar are available in the market,” he said.

He informed that the government is working to strengthen the Directorate of Agricultural Marketing.

The directorate will determine the retail and wholesale prices of the products, he added.

He informed that the state-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) is selling daily essentials at subsidised rates to 1 crore low-income families nationwide.

Around 4 crore people in the country are getting benefit of the programme, he added.

Titu informed that many traders and companies are selling products at mill gate prices which is giving consumers a lot of relief.

Senior Secretary of the Commerce Ministry Tapan Kanti Ghosh, Senior Vice President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Md. Amin Helaly and Director General of the Directorate of the National Consumer Rights Protection AHM Shafiquzzaman, among others, spoke on the occasion.

During the event, the state minister for Commerce inaugurated the ‘Supply Chain Monitoring System (SCMS) software’.