LAHORE: Onion prices in the provincial metropolis have peaked at between Rs 80 to Rs 90 per kilogram in retail markets. Vegetable dealers claim that onion export to India through Wagha border has reduced local stocks and pushed up the price of the essential commodity in vegetable markets.
Vegetable vendors at Badami Bagh wholesale market said that the Punjab was already facing a vegetable shortage of around 30-40 percent owing to heavy flooding this year and vegetable exports to India were further escalating the prices every day commodities.
Speaking to Pakistan Today, a vegetable exporter Khalil Bhatti said that onion price in India was hovering between Rs 70 to Rs 80 per kilogram as a result of crop failure due to heavy flooding. He said that in an effort to rein in the spiralling price of onion, the Indian government had sanctioned the duty free import of onion and imposed a complete ban on its exports.
A senior official in the provincial agriculture department also confirmed that India had formally notified a ban on onion exports on Wednesday. He revealed that earlier, the Indian government had doubled the minimum price of onions exported from the country. However, now it had decided to ban exports of all onion varieties with immediate effect in a desperate bid to control prices in India markets, he added.
Vegetable exporters revealed that Indian traders had booked orders of some 2,000 tonnes of onion from Pakistan and on daily basis some 400 to 500 tonnes of onion had been crossing Wahga border for at the previous three days. However, exporters stressed that onion exports would not be maintained on a sustained basis as the quantum of the exports will shrink in tandem with the stabilisation of prices in Indian markets.
Responding to a query, they disclosed that onion was being exported at Rs 40 to Rs 50 per kilogram to India. Exporters believed that if the price of onion continued to escalate in the local market; exports would no longer be viable. They revealed that Pakistani vegetables were exported to UAE and Malaysia, in addition to India, but due to negligible quantities exported did not have a significant impact on local prices.
It is pertinent to note that official price figures released by the Directorate of Agriculture (Economic and Marketing), Punjab, show that onion is available at Rs 44 to Rs 46 per kilogram at wholesale level. However, the commodity is selling at Rs 80 to Rs 90 per kilogram in retail markets. The price of onion has undoubtedly escalated in recent years. In December 2007, the price was Rs 1,388 per 100 kg, Rs 1,866 in 2008, Rs 1,807 in 2009. However by December 2010, the price had shown a marked rise of Rs 4,476 per 100 kg.
