The first onions imported by the Central government in a bid to counter domestic shortages and tame soaring prices are set to enter the retail market — mostly in Delhi and Andhra Pradesh — by Saturday, according to officials from the Consumer Affairs Ministry.
On Thursday, the Ministry announced that public trading agency Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation (MMTC) has contracted to buy an additional 12,500 tonnes of onions from Turkey, taking the total contracted imports to 42,500 tonnes.
However, customers suffering under a prolonged price surge are yet to see any of these imported onions.
Initial shipment
According to Ministry officials, just over 1,000 tonnes of imported onions have arrived in the country so far. That initial shipment arrived at the Mumbai port last Sunday, but due to procedures to fumigate and clean the onions, their arrival in the retail market has been delayed. The initial buyers are state-run National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED), which has been supplying subsidised onions in the National Capital Region, and the Andhra Pradesh State government, said a Ministry official.
Retail prices in Delhi have not dropped below the ₹100 per kg mark for the last two weeks (since December 5). In fact, they peaked at ₹145 per kg on Wednesday, according to data from the National Horticulture Board.
The situation is particularly severe in southern India, with onions selling for ₹160 per kg in Chennai on Thursday, and ₹120 per kg in Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
Of the 42,500 tonnes of imports contracted by MMTC so far, on the directions of the Centre’s Price Stabilisation Management Fund Committee, about 12,000 tonnes are likely to arrive in the country by the end of the year, according to an official statement. Those onions will then be distributed by NAFED to all the States that have so far put in orders to buy them at a rate of ₹55 per kg.
