Price past 5,000 taka a maund, and not an onion in the arot

At the Karomja Chaturhat and Boalmari onion markets in Santhia, Pabna, the price per maund jumped from 3,200-3,400 taka to 5,000-5,400 in about ten days, with 1,500-1,600 taka of that coming in the last three days alone. But holders stopped releasing stock and supply dried up: a hat day that normally brings ten trucks and about 150 tonnes brought half a truck, and 10-12 arots received nothing at all. One trader managed to buy only 15 sacks in a whole market day, and one arotdar's warehouse stood completely empty. The rising price earned the arots nothing, because there was nothing to buy. The market labourers took the hardest hit, dropping from 700-800 taka a day to 100-150. About 12,000 tonnes were stored in the district, of which roughly 9,000 were usable.