Onion imports could begin by early September

The Centre is confident that the tender floated by MMTC Ltd for import of 10,000 tonnes of onions to be opened on August 27 will be successful and should see the shipments of the bulb reaching India by early September.

A previous tender floated by the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) had failed to attract any bids.

“The sentiment is quite positive within the MMTC and once the tender is finalised, it should receive the required bids. After that, shipments can begin by September 10,” C Vishwanath, Consumer Affairs Secretary, told reporters here on Monday, after a meeting with stakeholders like the Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), MMTC, Mother Dairy, among others.

Vishwanath added that the government was open to importing more onions if there was a need to. “After assessing requirements, we could go in for more tenders,” he said.

Retail prices of the kitchen staple have surged to ₹80/kg in New Delhi and Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan directed States to crack down on hoarders earlier in the day. “There is a production shortfall of only 5 lakh tonnes in the country. Hoarders get active when there is a fall in output. The State governments should take action against hoarders to control prices,” he said.

Wholesale prices have touched ₹60 at the Lasalgaon market, Asia’s biggest wholesale market for onions, in Maharashtra. Prices were between ₹15 and ₹18/kg at the same time last year.

Vishwanath added that the Maharashtra Chief Secretary had been informed about the Centre’s concerns over rising prices.

Officials present at the meeting, however, said that prices were unlikely to ease till the beginning of October. Fresh arrivals of the Kharif crop are only likely to begin by the middle of that month.

“We expect prices to remain high for another 40 days or so after which they should ease with the new crop hitting the market,” said S Nagarajan, Managing Director, Mother Dairy, which owns Safal outlets that have been selling the bulb for ₹38/kg.

Earlier, the Centre had raised the minimum export price of onions to $700/tonne from $425 to prevent overseas sales. The SFAC and Nafed have been supplying onions to Delhi at less than ₹40/kg.