Meghna Group’s onion consignment to arrive in Bangladesh on Friday

Meghna Group’s first consignment of onion by air is set to arrive in Bangladesh on Friday.

The company is importing the essential ingredient from Turkey after the government decided to bring it by air in a bid to rein in spiralling price.

The consignment of onion by a flight of Turkish Airlines is expected to reach the Dhaka airport in the morning, an official of the company said.

"The imported onions will be given to the government. Then, the government will sell them through TCB,” said Asif Iqbal, deputy director of the Meghna Group, to bdnews24.com on Thursday night.

“In addition, more onions will be brought by sea.”

“Large quantities of onions cannot be brought by air. But the consignment is big [enough],” said Iqbal.

The business conglomerate will bring about 12,000 to 15,000 metric tonnes of onion by sea from Turkey. The shipments will start coming to Chattogram port from Dec 1.

Onion prices had continued to surge since Sept 29 when India banned exports to control domestic prices, prompting the government to take several measures to tame the skyrocketing price.

Prices rose to Tk 180 a kg, which is a Tk 30 jump in two days, after Cyclone Bulbul that struck the coastline on Nov 9 squeezed supplies. The prices continued to rise and hovered around Tk 250, a record in Bangladesh, over the weekend.

To deal with the situation, the government decided to import onions from Egypt, Turkey, China and other countries.

It later decided to import onion by air for faster shipments.

The government has also decided to waive cargo handling charges on onion imports on the flights of flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines.