The commissioner of Petrapole customs in a fax message has requested the customs commissioner of Benapole to take delivery of onion even on Saturday, weekly holiday in Bangladesh, to avert traffic congestion at Petrapole.

As per records, at least 495 tonnes of onion were imported on October 23, 390 tonnes on October 24 and 570 tonnes on October 25 through Benaploe land port. Many onion trucks are at Benapole for unloading, sources at Benapole land port said yesterday.

Importers' syndicates in Dhaka and Chittagong are controlling onion price in the country. They are importing onion from India at around Tk 13.25 per kilogram as per earlier Letter of Credit (LC) and selling those at Tk 42 to Tk 48 to wholesalers.

Sources at Benapole customs said that as per previous LC, importers are importing one metric ton of onion at $180 or Tk 11520. Six percent customs duty, four per cent infrastructure development tax and three per cent income tax are added to the price. So the total import price including all taxes stands at Tk 13.25 er kg, they said.

The importers have formed a syndicate and are selling onion to wholesalers at Tk 40 to Tk 48 per kg, they said.

The sources added that huge quantities of onion are being imported from India every day as per earlier LCs. Onion is not imported on new LC as its price has also increased in India in recent days.

Sources said onion is produced in large quantities in Indian states of Karnataka, Maharastra, Gujrat, Rajstan and West Bengal. But heavy rain this year damaged onion.