The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (Nafed) is ready to airlift onions at a short notice from China, Egypt or from neighbouring countries to contain prices, said Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.
“I have spoken to Nafed; they have information that there is sufficient quantity of onions which can be imported at short notice,” Pawar told reporters on the sidelines of 8th national Krishi Vigyan Kendras conference.
Import of onions is the only short-term solution, he said.
“We have to import as early as possible. I have instructed the Managing Director of Nafed (that) if there is a request from any State, we should be ready,” said Pawar.
This measure is expected to bring down the price in the next 10-15 days, giving relief to consumers.
In the long term, the Government expects the new crop to hit the market in 3-4 weeks. Pawar also ruled out the possibility of traders exporting onions to countries where prices are lower than in India.
“Globally, onion prices are in the range of $400-500 a tonne while domestic prices are hovering around $900,” he said.
Pawar said: “With this price differential, there is no question of exports. I cannot take a unilateral decision on export ban. It has to be a collective effort. Tomorrow, the Food and Consumer Affairs Minister has called for a meeting and will discuss.”
He said the price rise was under the purview of the Food and Consumer Affairs Ministry. “I can speak only as a producer,” he said.
“Monsoon this year has been good but excess rainfall has hit supply. Also rains, a couple of weeks ago, have damaged the kharif crop further in key producing States - Maharashtra, Karnataka,” he explained.
The Government is expecting new crop to enter market from Rajasthan and other non-traditional onion growing areas in the next 2-3 weeks to ease prices.
PTI reports: Prices of old variety onions continued to surge to a new high. Only 51 tonnes of old onions arrived at the Lasalgaon Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee yard on Wednesday. Arrivals of the new red onions were 195 tonnes, sources said.
The old onion was auctioned at Rs 5,972 a quintal and the new crop at Rs 4,400-4,500.