Around 700 onion containers imported from India are facing acute delay in clearance at Karachi Port due to the newly introduced checking system causing shortage of the commodity in the local market. Shortage of onions in the country, after the damage of crops during the heavy rains and floods mainly in Sindh last year, has pushed the price of the highly consumed vegetable up by almost 40 per cent.
As onion demand in the country, especially in Karachi, is largely being met through imports from the neighbouring country, the delayed clearance and strict checking system at ports have augmented the domestic price of the vegetable, sources told Profit.
It is worth mentioning here that both exports and imports were being cleared through the indigenously developed automated customs clearance system – Web Based One Custom (WeBOC) – at various ports of the country; including Port Qasim, Karachi and Karachi Port.
Earlier, the fruit and vegetable exporters of the country had faced the same delays in clearance of their assignments besides braving the damages made to their products during the process. Besides the jump in demand, the dependence on import from India has also caused the increase in price of the item multiplying the woes of already crisis and inflation hit masses.
To meet the escalating onion demand, importers are likely to continue importing the item during next couple of months as the domestic crop in Balochistan would be ready by April this month. Although, according sources at the city’s main vegetable wholesale market, onion was available at Rs25 to Rs30 per kilogram the same item was being sold at retail market at Rs45 to Rs50 per kg with 40 to 50 per cent increase. Earlier onions at retail market, was available at Rs28 to Rs30 per kg. The shortage became more menacing after the damage of the onion crop after devastative monsoon rains last year in many parts of Sindh including Matiari, Hyderabad, Hala, Mirpurkhas, Badin, Tandoallayar, Nasrpur, etc. Sindh is a big producer of onions, which not only provides the vegetable to the whole of Punjab, but also exports the good quality produce. The province also provides onions to other provinces from October to March. However, according to sources, in spite of the floods, sufficient onion stocks were available in the country but due to the lack of storage facility and negligence on the part of concerned authorities in government, there is onion shortage in the country.
