Turkey’s decision to halt onion exports is set to increase onion prices in India by 10-15%. After a major shortage of onions in India, the country is relying heavily on imports. To control prices and shortages the Indian government had banned exports of onions from India on 29th of September 2019.
India relied on Turkey and Egypt for major imports of onions to fulfill its domestic demand. Since onion prices skyrocketed due to the shortages, it became difficult for the general public to get this staple ingredient.
According to data, India imported 7070 tonnes of onions this fiscal year out of which 50% were imports were from Turkey. The prices will remain firm in the coming two months due to a shortage of domestic supply because of excessive rainfall in key producing areas. Besides, onion imports from Sri Lanka stopped because of strict rules imposed for the issuance of phytosanitary documents. However, the supply from Egypt and Afghanistan is good enough to keep the onion prices at Rs 55 per kg.
Import difficulties
The importing of onions from Afghanistan via the Wagah Border is also getting difficult because of limited handling capacity. On the contrary, the data released by the Ministry of Agriculture confirms the increased area under the cultivation of onion from 2.31 lakh hectares to 2.78 lakh hectares this year due to the alluring prices of onions.
At Lasalgaon APMC, the daily arrivals ranged from 1,200 to 1,300 tons in the last two to three days, whereas it was 2,500 to 2,700 tons at the same time in the previous year.
Ajit Shah, an importer from Mumbai said that the prices of good quality onion range at Rs 100 to Rs 150 across the metro cities. He further added that only domestic supply can help in decreasing the domestic prices. The excess rainfall during the harvest time and delayed monsoons led to the price hike of onions. All in all, the prices are expected to normalize as soon as the domestic supply picks up.
[ Rs100 = €1.30 ]
