Govt completes disposal of 35,857 tonnes of imported onions to states

The government has completed the disposal of 35,857 tonne of onion, imported by state-owned MMTC in 2019 to check spiralling domestic prices, according to the Consumer Affairs Ministry.

To contain onion prices, the government had in November 2019 decided to import 1.2 lakh tonnes of onion through MMTC. Since then, it purchased 35,857 tonne of onion from the overseas market under the Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF).

In its latest report, the ministry said it has completed the disposal of imported onions by the end of March. Total of 35,857 tonne of imported onion has been sold to different states.

Much of the onion (about 29,836 tonne) was disposed of during February when there was an increase in offtake for the imported onions, it said.

Imported onions were dispatched to states such as Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana, Chandigarh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, and Goa among others.

Some quantity of onion was sold through auction. Agencies such as Mother Dairy, Kendriya Bhandar and NAFED were advised to retail imported onions to cool down their prices, the report added.

The government was forced to import onions in a bid to contain prices that had touched the peak of Rs 160/kg in second half of 2019. The damage in the kharif onion crop due to late monsoon rains and later excess rainfall had led to supply constraint and sharp rise in prices.