MMTC signs second onion import order, to buy 11,000 tonnes from Turkey

The company had placed an order for the first consignment of 6,090 tonnes of onion from Egypt

State-owned trading firm MMTC, which is importing onion on the behalf of the Centre, has placed an order of 11,000 tonnes of edible bulb from Turkey as part of its efforts to boost domestic supply and ease soaring prices, sources said. This is the second import order placed by the MMTC. The public sector firm is already importing 6,090 tonnes from Egypt.

Last month, the Union Cabinet approved importing 120,000 tonnes of onion to improve the domestic supply and control prices that have skyrocketed to Rs 75-120 per kg across major cities now. The Centre has already banned exports and imposed stockholding limit on wholesalers and retailers for indefinite period.

According to sources, MMTC has contracted 11,000 tonnes of onion imports from Turkey and the consignments are expected in January next year. The company had placed an order for the first consignment of 6,090 tonnes of onion from Egypt which will be arriving at Nhava Sheva (JNPT), Mumbai in the second week of this month. The imported onion is being offered to state governments for distribution at the rate of Rs 52-55 per kg ex-Mumbai and Rs 60 per kg ex-Delhi.

To monitor onion prices, a Group of Ministers, chaired by Home Minister Amit Shah, has already been constituted. Finance minister, consumer affairs minister, agriculture minister and road transport minister are also members of this panel. A Committee of Secretaries (CoS) and Consumer Affairs Secretary Avinash K Srivastava is also constantly reviewing the situation…

Onions for Rs 100 a kg: Consumers pay price as govt fails to get supplies

Onion prices have been rising for three months after crops were first affected by delayed monsoon and later excessive and prolonged rains in Maharashtra and Karnataka

Onions are selling above Rs 100 per kg in Mumbai and other cities, as faulty supply management, an infective import policy and crop damage make it unlikely that prices will fall before December.

Researchers and market players predict the supply deficit will last till mid-December and it will take a month after that for prices to fall. Onion prices have been rising for three months after crops were first affected by delayed monsoon and later excessive and prolonged rains in Maharashtra and Karnataka. Prices were expected to fall from November after the government banned exports and imposed nationwide stock limits on traders.

The government relaxed import norms but not enough to impress importers, said Ajit Shah, president of the Horticulture Exporters Association. Onions Price Rs 100 a kg: Consumers pay price as govt fails to get supplies The government has relaxed fumigation and quarantine rules till November 30, but importers say quicker customs clearance and allowing them to trade with centres like Dubai, even if the onion stock is from Iran, would have been more effective.

A few traders have imported from Egypt, Turkey and other countries but the quantities are small and take 20 days to reach Indian ports. Dubai imports reach India within two days. In Mumbai’s retail markets, onion sold at Rs. 110-120 per kg in the last two days. Arrivals from Maharashtra; Gujarat; Rajasthan, and Delhi moderated pries to Rs.65-75 for good quality onions. According to the National Horticulture Research & Development Foundation, prices have come down to around Rs.50-55 per kg and even below in some places.

Onion set to bring tears to consumer as retail price nears Rs 100 a kg

Vegetables surges by 10% to trade at Rs 55.5 a kg in Lasalgaon mandi. It is being sold for Rs 70-80 in retail across the country

Barely two days after the government showed conviction over price decline due to steady increase in supply, onion prices jumped by 10 per cent to trade at over four-year high of Rs 55.50 a kg in the benchmark Lasalgaon mandi on Monday.

Onion is currently trading between Rs 70 and Rs 80 in retail markets across the country and is approaching the Rs 100-mark fast. The rates have shown a four-fold increase in the last three months in wholesale markets from Rs 13 a kg in early August to Rs 55 now and retail price from Rs 20 to Rs 80.

Traders attribute the sudden spurt in prices to the very little quantity from last year’s production, crop damage due to unseasonal rain across the country and unfavourable government policy.

“Rain during October and November have so far resulted in widespread damage of the standing kharif crop. Thus, arrivals of early variety onion sown in South Indian states, including in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, were damaged. So, supply of new variety of onion, which was supposed to hit mandis in the second fortnight of October, is no longer available. Thus, onion prices are continuously rising,” said Jaydatta Holkar, chairman, APMC Lasalgaon.

Meanwhile, after banning onion exports and levying stock limit for domestic traders last month, the department of consumer affairs had convened a meeting of stakeholders last Friday. It concluded that the price increase was due to rain-driven supply disruption which has started improving in order to correct prices.

Onion prices fall 86%; poor farmers say they’ll make Modi pay in 2019 polls

Steep drops in recent weeks in the prices of onions and potatoes, both staple foods for India’s 1.3 billion people, have badly hit the rural economy in large states

Latest News: A spike in the price of onions has led to the ouster of governments in Indian elections in the past. Now, prices of the staple have collapsed, and many impoverished farmers are saying they will make Prime Minister Narendra Modi pay in next year’s general election.

Steep drops in recent weeks in the prices of onions and potatoes, both staple foods for India’s 1.3 billion people, have badly hit the rural economy in large states. In interviews with dozens of farmers last week, Reuters reporters found resentment welling against Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for not helping support incomes in the countryside, where a majority of the population lives.

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“Whatever they do in the coming months, I will vote against the BJP. I won’t repeat the 2014 mistake,” said Madhukar Nagare, an onion grower from Nashik in Maharashtra state, referring to his backing the BJP at the last general election.

In the 1998 state elections, a sharp spike in onion prices led to the fall of the BJP government in the capital New Delhi.In the 1980 general election, sky-high onion prices helped former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi dislodge a coalition government that had included politicians who later formed the BJP…

Read More: Lok Sabha Elections 2019

Nashik farmer writes to PMO, refutes report on ‘low quality’ of onions

Sathe had earlier sent Rs 1,064, his earnings from onion sale in the wholesale market, to PM Modi on November 29 as a protest

BS:The farmer from Nashik, who had sent his onion sale earnings to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to highlight low returns, has alleged that the district authorities wrongly described his produce as of “low quality”. Sanjay Sathe, from Niphad tehsil in Nashik district of Maharashtra, on Monday wrote a letter to the PMO in which he said the authorities prepared a report about his onion produce without any inquiry and that it was “false”.

Sathe had earlier sent Rs 1,064, his earnings from onion sale in the wholesale market, to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 29 as a protest. However, a report later submitted to the Maharashtra government by the district deputy registrar office said the farmer’s onions were of “medium to low quality” and “blackish” in colour.

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Refuting the claim, Sathe, in his letter to the PMO, said, “I sold 750 kg onion and earned Rs 1,064. But without any inquiry, the state government officials in their report stated that my onions were blackish and of low quality. It is false and officials are misguiding you.”

“I hope you will understand that if authorities can lie to you, what challenges a common man would be facing in government offices,” he said in the letter sent from the local office of India Post. Almost every onion grower was facing the same situation of low rates and the state’s “apathy” towards it, Sathe claimed, and requested the prime minister to find a solution to it.

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