Potatoes already selling at Tk25 per kg in Dinajpur as import starts through Hili

In a government move to tame the country’s potato market, a total of 25 tonnes of potato arrived in Bangladesh through Dinajpur’s Hili land port from India on Saturday afternoon.

As a result, the price of potatoes came down by Tk 10-15 per kg at retail markets in the district, reports UNB’s Hili correspondent.

Md Ifsuf Ali, deputy assistant quarantine officer of Hili Land Port Plant Quarantine Centre, said on Wednesday the government decided to import potatoes to rein in the runaway price.

On the same day, importers of Hili land port applied for permission at Khamarbari in Dhaka to import potatoes, he said.

A total of 49 importers of the port got permission to import 34,000 metric tonnes of potatoes from Thursday afternoon while the import started on Saturday afternoon, said the quarantine officer.

Shahidul Islam, an importer at Hili land port, said the price of potato has increased to Tk 40 per kg at retail level, despite the season.

To deal with the situation, the government has decided to import potatoes to keep the market normal in Ramadan. Potato import from India through Hili land port started on Saturday, said the importer, adding that the price of potato decreased to Tk 25-30 per kg

Sources at the land port said that the price of potato went out of control on the pretext of a crisis in the country's market last year.

On October 30, the government allowed importing potatoes from India to keep the situation normal. Since then, the price of imported potatoes has come down in the market.

Following the market stability, the government again stopped importing potatoes through Hili land port from December 15.

-UNB