The price of onions may rise by another 10-15 per cent after a brief respite as Turkey — a major import destination for India — has decided to halt the export of the kitchen staple from its shores.
Since the price of onions skyrocketed, Turkey and Egypt have been two key import destinations for India, according to a report by the Indian Express.
Traders have been relying heavily on the two countries, along with China, to procure onions and wholesalers in India are now expected to feel the pinch after Turkey’s decision. This, however, will eventually ease out once domestic arrival of onions improves.
According to the report, provisional data revealed that India imported 7,070 tonnes of onion in this fiscal year. Of this, 50 per cent came from Turkey, according to traders. However, the price of onions in Turkey soared as a result of the rise in export of the bulb from the country.
An agent operating in a wholesale market in Maharashtra’s Nashik, Suresh Deshmukh, confirmed that Turkey had to halt onion export as the prices there, too, had shot up. He added that they took the same step as India — which banned the export of the bulb to regulate the prices here — to check domestic onion prices.
According to the data from the Ministry of Agriculture cited by the report, the area of land under onion cultivation has increased from 2.31 lakh hectares last season to 2.78 lakh hectares by November-end. This is primarily due to onions fetching a good rate in the markets, attracting more and more farmers to ditch other rabi crop for onions.
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