India’s onion export ban helps Iraq, Turkey gain foothold in global market

Iraq and Turkey are giving difficult levels of competition to India in the latter’s regular onion export sector, notably with the Union Authorities using ad hoc selections to ban shipments about the previous few years.

“Iraq and Turkey are waiting around to fill in any hole still left by India in the onion export sector. They received when India banned onion exports from September 24 to December 31 previous calendar year,” stated Agri Commodities Exporters Affiliation (ACEA) President M Madan Prakash.

“These countries in addition to Pakistan are always powering us. The ban on exports is proving to be a issue in successful again our regular maintain,” stated Ajit Shah, President of Horticulture Generate Exports Affiliation (HPEA).

Export ban

When the Centre bans onion exports for six months, it proves hard to recover the sector share, stated traders.

In the previous few years, the Centre has been resorting to banning exports or repairing bare minimum import value for onion exports to rein in soaring domestic costs. On September 24 previous calendar year, the Union Authorities banned exports just after retail costs began to zoom in the domestic sector.

As costs in the retail marketplaces topped ₹100 a kg, the Centre, in addition to the export ban, imposed boundaries on shares traders can maintain and permitted duty-free of charge imports that lasted until January 31 this calendar year. Onion costs surged previous calendar year on reduced production as the crop was afflicted by unseasonal rains.

The export ban was lifted from January one, but exporters had to facial area issues in having purchasers.

“Initially, we had issues in exporting as our regular purchasers had enough shares from Turkey and Iraq, whose consignments had been also waiting around at ports this sort of as Colombo,” stated ACEA’s Prakash.

Uncompetitive costs

In specific, exporters confronted issues in successful again the sector in Malaysia, Sri Lanka and the Gulf. Besides, Pakistan also offered its onion aggressive costs, making it more durable for India to acquire sector share.

Unseasonal rains and destruction to standing crops for the duration of January-February resulted in onion costs topping ₹4,000 a quintal in the domestic sector and this, also, afflicted the competitiveness of Indian onion in the export sector just after the export ban was lifted.

Presently, costs have crashed by nearly 75 per cent to all-around ₹1,000 in the trading hub of Nashik in Maharashtra with the Rabi onion crop arriving in different marketplaces throughout the state. The Rabi onion has a lengthier shelf-lifetime and therefore is ruling ₹100-200 larger than late Kharif onions, which also are hitting the marketplaces along with.

“The onion problem reminds us of what happened with regard to masur dal (purple lentils). We had been a large exporter 25 years in the past but we now import it,” stated HPEA’s Shah.

“We really should not have banned onion exports. Pakistan has received a great deal out of this,” he stated.

“We obtain it hard even to export our distinctive Bangalore rose onion in perspective of the ban that used to all types of onion. Even just after six months, we obtain it a issue to obtain purchasers,” stated ACEA’s Prakash, also director of Chennai-based Rajathi Group that exports the bulb.

Shipments stats

Export trade details out to info that demonstrate that just after hovering among ten lakh and 20 lakh tonnes, onion shipments hit a document 32.ninety four lakh tonnes for the duration of 2016-seventeen but just after that, they have been hovering beneath 22 lakh tonnes.

Throughout 2019-20, onion exports dropped to a 10 years small of eleven.forty seven lakh tonnes prior to rising yet again previous fiscal. Having said that, the export ban for the duration of September-December played spoilsport. Nonetheless, for the duration of the 5-½ months of the fiscal, exports topped the past calendar year degree.

In accordance to a statement produced by Union Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar in Parliament, onion exports totalled 84,000 for the duration of January-February this calendar year quickly just after the ban was lifted.

“The issue we facial area is that every single time we try out to recover from this sort of ban, the movement is in the beginning sluggish,” Shah stated.

PK Gupta, Director (performing) of Nashik-based Countrywide Horticultural Study and Improvement Basis, stated that Indian onions had been priced larger and that’s why, other locations received.

“Buyers are not all set to obtain our onions when many others are featuring it more competitively,” he stated.

Suvarna Jagtap, Chairperson of Asia’s most significant onion sector at Lasalgaon in Maharashtra, stated that this calendar year the bulb’s exports had been hit as importing nations curbed shipments in perspective of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Last calendar year, costs had been large that afflicted our competitiveness,” she stated.

“Right now, we have come to be aggressive in the world sector. We are having orders from countries this sort of as Malaysia,” stated ACEA’s Prakash.

Presently, Indian onion is quoted at $250 a tonne (₹18,seven hundred) free of charge-on-board when compared with Pakistan’s quotation of $230 (₹17,200). Turkey onion is quoting at $280 (₹21,000), when the Netherlands’ develop, a different severe player in the export sector, is priced at $335 (₹25,000).

“We are having packed cargoes of onion at Mumbai at ₹13,500 a tonne,” stated Prakash.

Shah stated India really should allow exports and imports of agricultural develop freely so that marketplaces would obtain their ranges instantly and farmers would acquire.

Onion production is seen larger at 26.29 million tonnes, a document, for the duration of the latest crop calendar year to June towards the final estimate of 26.09 million tonnes in 2019-20.