Afghan onion brings down soaring price

Neeraj Bagga

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Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 1

Afghan onion imported through the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at the Attari-Wagah Joint Check Post is replenishing supplies and bringing down the soaring prices.

Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal in Delhi on Friday had announced to import 25,000 tonnes more onion before Diwali. All these moves contributed in crashing of onion price in domestic markets on Sunday, indicating hoarders offloading their holding in the open market.

Importers said in the wholesale markets of Delhi, the rate nosedived from Rs 50 to Rs 35 per kg, in Maharashtra from Rs 70 to Rs 40 and Punjab between Rs 28 and Rs 30 per kg. Red onion brought from Afghanistan’s Balkh and Ghazni through the ICP is being supplied to Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.

Charanjit Singh Batra, a wholesale trader, said the domestic supply of onion from Rajasthan’s Alwar and Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur commenced, which bridged the supply and demand gap.

Jatinder Khurana, a leading importer and exporter, rued that they were incurring losses on account of not only crashing trend in the market but also due to various other reasons.

He said the authorities at the ICP had objected to its packaging in gunny bags, increasing chances of contraband being concealed in them. Therefore, repackaging was ordered at the ICP. “It escalated the cost and denied the much-needed supply to timely reach the market,” he said. About five tonnes of onion either got damaged or stolen from each truck, carrying at least 35 tonnes.

The arrival of trucks increased from 10 to 70 a day after Indian importers asked Afghan exporters to pack onion in plastic bags. It takes about six days for import consignment to reach here from Afghanistan.