After a spike in onion prices in the domestic market, traders have started importing the produce from Afghanistan. Consumers are irked that a kilogram of onion is available between Rs 55 and Rs 60 in the market.
Satish Dhyani, the manager at the Integrated Check Post (ICP) in Attari, said an average of three trucks with over 65 metric tonnes of onion were daily coming from the land-locked country of Afghanistan. The ICP is also getting supplies of dry fruit, medicinal herbs and fresh fruit like grapes, pomegranate and apple from the Taliban-ruled country.
Imported onions are heading to the fresh farm produce market in Delhi. Market watchers said in case the supply of onion from domestic markets does not resume soon, the import of onion from Afghanistan will increase in the coming days.
Amarjit Kaur, a housewife, said fresh farm produce like tomato, onion and garlic are among essential vegetables. “Consumers have no alternative to these as they are used for daily consumption, yet the government never bothers to control their prices,” Kaur said.
Gaurav Behal, a wholesale onion dealer, said usually the markets of Northern India receive onion supply from Rajasthan by the middle of this month. However, it did not happen this time. Instead, they received the message the supply would arrive in the next month.
He added that the crop that was already stored in Maharashtra, the largest grower of onion in the country, had been damaged. All these factors decreased the supply of onion while the demand remained high, leading to an increase in prices.