Within three days, onion prices jumped by Tk 40 in the capital's kitchen markets.
As of yesterday, onions are being sold at Tk 140-160 per kg, up from Tk 110-120 previously.
Traders claimed that the rise is due to a shortage of onions.
This correspondent visited several kitchen markets in the capital, including Karwan Bazar, Kochukhet, Ibrahimpur, Shewrapara, Kazipara, and Bhasantek, and found the prices to be higher.
Shamim Hossain, who works at a private organisation, could not believe his ears when traders asked Tk 160 for one kg of onions.
"At first, I thought I heard him wrong. Then I realised it was true. I checked four grocery shops and found that onions were being sold for Tk 150-160 everywhere," he told this newspaper at Kazipara Kitchen Market yesterday morning.
"It is not acceptable that the price of onions per kg has gone up by Tk 40 within two days. The government needs to monitor the kitchen markets regularly to control the price hikes of daily essentials," he added.
Retail onion traders said many consumers were shocked after hearing the prices, and some had heated arguments with them.
Mohammad Siam of Shahid General Store at Bhasantek Kitchen Market said he had to buy each kg of onion at Tk 145, including transportation costs, and now sells it at Tk 150-160 based on size.
Onion wholesaler Sajib Sheikh, proprietor of M/S Matri Bhandar at Karwan Bazar, said they had to buy onions from the haats of Faridpur, Rajbari, and Pabna at an extra cost of Tk 40.
"That is why we are now selling onions at Tk 138-145 per kg in the wholesale market," he said.
"We went to the Faridpur haat to buy 80 sacks of onions. However, we could finally manage to purchase only 20 sacks due to limited supply," he added.
He further explained that onion prices are expected to come down within a month once the new production reaches the market and onion imports resume.
Talking to this newspaper, Abdul Mazed, an onion importer and general secretary of the Shyambazar Onion Wholesalers' Association, claimed that there is a shortage of onions in the kitchen markets at this time, which is why prices are rising.
Meanwhile, vegetable prices are usually relatively low during winter due to an influx of fresh vegetables, such as cauliflower, beans, bottle gourd, radish, and tomatoes. However, consumers said this year the vegetable market remains expensive. Prices of almost all types of vegetables are high, except for radish and papaya. Most vegetables now cost between Tk 60 and Tk 80.
In yesterday's market, medium-sized cauliflower was sold for Tk 30-40 per piece. Similarly, medium-sized cabbage went for Tk 30-40, eggplant for Tk 60-80 per kg, radish for Tk 40, ridge gourd for Tk 60-80, sponge gourd for Tk 70-80, bitter gourd for Tk 80, cucumber for Tk 60-80, and carrot for Tk 60-80 per kg.
Sweet pumpkin was sold at Tk 40-50 per kg, beans at Tk 50-60, green chillies at Tk 60-80, papaya at Tk 40, and new potatoes at Tk 60-80 per kg.
