First shipments from India arrive to tame spiralling potato prices

The first-ever shipments of 77 tonnes of potatoes have arrived from India for domestic consumption in Bangladesh - traditionally an exporter of the root vegetable - amid government efforts to ease the price.

A company named Gore International of Chapainawabganj brought two trucks of potatoes through Sona Masjid land port on Thursday after getting the government’s approval.

The company did not want to disclose the import cost.

The agriculture ministry said the government has granted permission for imports of 107,000 tonnes of potatoes in three days starting on Tuesday.

Abu Bakar Siddique, the manager of Arham Nitex which is among the firms that got the permission to import potatoes, said they would start imports after analysing the volatile market by taking into consideration a 33 percent duty on potato imports.

Potatoes are now being sold at Tk 60 to Tk 80 per kg in Dhaka markets – the highest in the country's history. In India, one kg of potato costs 20 rupees.

Potato prices have seen a sharp increase recently despite “sufficient” production in Bangladesh.

It produced 11.1 million tonnes of potatoes last season against the annual demand of around 8 million tonnes. Traders also exported 13,000 tonnes of potatoes at the beginning of this year.

Earlier, 68,773 tonnes of potatoes were exported in the 2020-21 season while the government approved permission to export 78,910 tonnes in 2021-22.

This time the government has given permission to import 50,000 tonnes of potatoes in two days.