The Agriculture Ministry on Thursday gave approval to the import onion from nine other countries including India in the wake of soaring onion prices in the country.
Approval was given to import 2, 400 metric tonnes (MT) of onion from China, 3, 910MT from Egypt, 1, 1820 MT from Pakistan, 1100 from Qatar, 2100MT from Turkey, 200MTs from Myanmar, 33MT from Thailand, 4MTs from Netherlands and 3MT from the UAE, said a media release signed by Kamrul Islam, public relations officer of the ministry, said.
A total of 3, 079MT of onion have so far arrived in the country against the approval of 13.7 lakh MT, it reads.
The prices of onions started to soar in the country after neighbouring country India imposed a 40 percent export duty on onions with effect from August 20.
Moreover, onion import from India through land ports across the country came down to around half following the slapping of the duty.
