The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has finally managed to dispose of 35,857 tonne of onion, imported from Turkey, Egypt, European Union and other countries in 2019 to check spiralling domestic prices. In its latest report, the ministry said it has completed the disposal of imported onions by the end of March. Total of 35,857 tonnes of imported onion has been sold to different states. Presently, onion price in the wholesale market has touched Rs 8-10 a kg. In the retail market, onion is being sold at Rs 15-20 a kg depending on the quality and areas.
According to the Ministry, imported onions were dispatched to States such as Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, and Goa among others.
The Government was grappling to find a way to dispose of huge quantity of onions it imported from Turkey, Egypt and Iran. The States have refused to accept the imported onions because they don’t excite the domestic taste buds. The Modi government had approached Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka to sell these onions at “no profit no loss” basis. A drop in the price of the desi variant has also posed a challenge to imported onions.
To contain onion prices, the Government had in November 2019 decided to import 1.2 lakh tonnes of onion through the Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation of India (MMTC). Since then, it purchased 35,857 tonne of onion from the overseas market under the Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF). Much of the onion (about 29,836 tonne) was disposed of during February when there was an increase in offtake for the imported onions, it said.
Some quantity of onion was sold through auction. Agencies such as Mother Dairy, Kendriya Bhandar and NAFED were advised to retail imported onions to cool down their prices, the report added.
The Government was forced to import onions in a bid to contain prices that had touched the peak of Rs 160/kg in second half of 2019. The damage in the kharif onion crop due to late monsoon rains and later excess rainfall had led to supply constraint and sharp rise in prices.
The ministry has also directed the National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) to commence procurement of 40,000-50,000 tonne of summer onions towards the creation of buffer stock. Last year, too, the Centre had procured 57,000 tonne of onions through Nafed to create a buffer stock. Earlier, the target was 50,000 tonne, but Nafed had made additional procurement as per instructions from the central government. Of the total 57,000 tonne procured, around 48,000 tonne of onions were procured from different pockets of Maharashtra, while the remaining 9,000 tonne were bought from Gujarat.