High Demand of Pak, Chinese Onions hit India's Export by 33%.

NEW DELHI: India's onion exports fell by 33 per cent to 94,800 tonnes in September on the back of higher demand and lower prices of Pakistani and Chinese onions in the overseas markets.

"India's onion export last month fell to 94,800 tonnes against 1,41,298 tonnes a year earlier, mainly due to exports by Pakistan and China ," said a senior official with Nafed, which oversees onion export.

The demand of Pakistani and Chinese onions in the overseas markets was higher, as their prices were lower by USD 50 a tonne compared with Indian onion, which was selling above USD 350 a tonne last month, he said.

Pakistan is now exporting onions having imported heavily from India last fiscal. However, this year, it is exporting large volumes as it has harvested a good crop.

The government made India's onion exports expensive by raising the minimum export price (MEP) by USD 125 to USD 350 a tonne for last month. The onion MEP was only USD 225 a tonne in September 2009.

The official said that onion MEP was hiked to augment domestic supplies and curb the price rise.

Presently, onion prices in most retail markets are ruling firm at Rs 25-30 a kg as demand is being met by the stock stored in the cold storages. The new crop will start arriving from next month, he added.

According to Nafed data, the country's onion exports declined sharply in value terms in September as well. The exports fell to Rs 158.44 crore in September 2010 from Rs 176.72 crore in the year-ago period.

Overall, onion shipments during the April-September period of the 2010-11 fiscal stood at 8.64 lakh tonnes, down from 11.21 lakh tonnes in the same period last year.

Onion from the major growing region of Nasik, Maharashtra is usually exported Gulf countries while that from the southern part of India is shipped to Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com