Onions will come from China, Egypt: Sharad Pawar

India's worrying levels of current account deficit (CAD) notwithstanding, the government has decided to import onions from China or Egypt, union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar said yesterday.

The imports would be through the state-run National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED), the senior cabinet minister and leader of the Maharashtra-based Congress Nationalist Party said.

His statements came a day after his cabinet colleague, commerce minister Anand Sharma, said there was enough onion being produced in the country and the high prices were mainly due to hoarding by traders.

After months of high onion prices, Pawar told reporters on the margins of an agricultural seminar in Delhi, "We will authorise NAFED to import onions from China or Egypt where prices are lower if domestic prices remain high," even as onions are being exported from India.

Interestingly, the government is now talking of considering a ban on onion exports.

NAFED has a virtual monopoly on promoting trade of farm produce and forest resources across the country, besides the authority to procure agricultural products.

Onion prices have reached Rs100 per kg in major Indian cities as supplies remain tight. And there is no early respite in sight, as Pawar said rates will remain high for two to three weeks.

According to data compiled by the consumer affairs ministry, the average price in India's major 57 cities stood at Rs70 per kg, with Jammu recording highest at Rs90 per kg and Bangalore the cheapest at Rs32 per kg.

However, according to ground data, prices in major Indian cities are well above this level.

"As there are ample stocks of onions in China and Egypt, we will take action early. The imported price is $500 per tonne as against $900 per tonne in the country currently," Pawar said.

The price of onion – a staple in most Indian diets – has made and broken governments in the past; and general elections are due in around seven months.

Pawar expressed the standard view of the government that prices would come down in a week or so – a promise that has been repeatedly belied.

Pawar made the fair-enough claim that a large quantity of the onion crop in major growing areas was damaged due to excessive rain. He expressed the hope that procurement from the domestic market would improve in a couple of weeks.

"At the same time, every state should take stringent action against hoarding. Nobody is exporting. The hoarding is causing shortage in the market," Pawar said.

To be fair to the union government, much of the food administration is left to the states, where the centre can only advise the states to crack down on hoarding. However, there is a crying need for reform in the agriculture procurement structure which this government has hardly bothered to address.

Noting that imports would increase supply, the minister said onions have started coming to the market in Alwar in Rajasthan.