States urged to lift onions imported from Egypt, Turkey

New Delhi: The cabinet secretary has urged states to procure imported onions after a few state governments reported to have withdrawn their demands on arrival of shipments from Turkey and Egypt. “Cabinet secretary today (Tuesday) held a video conference with chief secretaries of state to discuss the distribution of the imported onions,” said consumer affairs secretary Avinash Srivastava. “There are a few states which have withdrawn their demands after placing requirements before the imports had begun. Cabinet secretary has asked them to review their decision.” He said the Centre had received a demand of around 33,000 tonnes of onions from states, which has now been cut down by states to just 14,000 tonnes.

“Some states like Maharashtra (3,480 tonnes), Assam (10,000 tonnes), Haryana (2,500 tonnes), Karnataka (250 tonnes) and Odisha (100 tonnes) withdrew their demands,” he said. Srivastava said the onions are available for states at a price ranging between Rs 49 and Rs 58 a kg. The disinterest shown by states has forced the Centre to cancel import orders of 5,000 tonnes of onions out of 42,000 tonnes contracted so far. “Around 12,000 tonnes have reached India. Now, 25,000 tonnes more will reach by end of this month,” he said.

Consumer affairs, food and public distribution minister Ram Vilas Paswan said the prices of onions have come down in last few days. The prices will come down further with domestic arrivals increasing at mandis and imported onions hitting the dock. “In coming March, production of onions is estimated to exceed last year’s March production. Agriculture department has estimated March production to be 29.46 lakh (2.946 million) tonnes against last year’s 25.26 lakh (2.526 million)tonnes,” he said.


In November 2019, onion output was 1.35 million tonnes as against 1.6 million tonnes in November 2018, while in December 2019, the production equalled 1.2 million tonnes of the previous year. In January this year, the production is estimated to be 925,000 tonnes against last year’s 1.38 million tonnes while in February the production would be 1.676 million tonnes against last year’s output of 2.272 mt.