Commerce Minister Golam Mohammad Kader on Wednesday informed Parliament that the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) needs to have 20-25 percent market share for its market intervention in case of any artificial crisis. “TCB needs to 20-25 percent market share what it doesn’t have now,” he told the House while responding to a supplementary question from Begum Shahida Tarekh Dipti (Women Seat-29). The Commerce Minister said his ministry has devoted 80 percent attention to onion issue to keep its supply to the market smooth during Eid-ul-Azha. “Even we had a meeting on the issue today.” GM Quader said the government has taken steps to import onion from Myanmar, China, Pakistan and India, but its price in India is still very high. “We assure that we’ll supply onion at a justified price.” He also said tea export is declining as its domestic production is falling while the demand is increasing. “We export organic tea. It’s true the export of tea is showing a downtrend.” Responding to a question from Mohammad Shahiduzzaman Sarker, the Commerce Minister said tea was imported from Indonesia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and India to meet the local demand over the last three years. He said Bangladesh Tea Board has taken a 12-year Strategic Development Plan involving Tk 967.35 crore to keep up the export flow and boost its production. – UNB
