INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
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 public sector firm is already importing 6,090 tonnes from Egypt.Last month, the Union Cabinet approved importing 1.2 lakh 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
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.Onion prices
remain high across the major cities of the country as the average selling price ruled at Rs 75 per kg on Saturday (November 30) while the
maximum rate of Rs 120 per kg was recorded in Mayabunder, according to the data compiled by the Consumer Affairs ministry.On November 19,
Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan had said onion production in kharif and late-kharif seasons of 2019-20 is estimated to
fall 26 per cent to 5.2 million tonne.Onion is a seasonal crop with harvesting period of (March to June), kharif (October to December) and
late-kharif (January-March)
weeks delay in sowing as well as decline in sown area of the kharif onion because of late arrival of monsoon
Further, untimely prolonged rains in the major growing states of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh during the harvesting period
caused damage to the standing crops in these regions," Mr Paswan had said."It''s not in our hand, the government is making maximum efforts
but who can win from nature," he recently told reporters when asked by when onion prices will come down to reasonable level.According to the
consumer affairs ministry data, onion is being sold at Rs 76 per kg in the national capital, Rs 82 in Mumbai, Rs 90 per kg in Kolkata and Rs
showed.The ministry monitors prices of 22 essential commodities (rice, wheat, atta, gram dal, tur (arhar) dal, urad dal , moong dal, masur
dal, sugar, gur, groundnut oil, mustard oil, vanaspati, sunflower oil, soya oil, palm oil, tea, milk, potato, onion, tomato and salt) based
on data collected from 109 market centres spread across the country.
