West Bengal: Imported onions from Turkey get mixed reaction in Asansol markets

In a relief to citizens from across the country, onions imported from Turkey have started entering the vegetable markets. Although the supply is finally matching the demand of onions, effectively leading to a fall in the price, residents from Asansol in West Bengal are not happy.

READ: Central Government Revises Stock Limit Of Onions For Retailers

"These look like the father of onions"

Reportedly vendors and customers are complaining about the size and weight of these onions. The vendors have claimed that the newly imported onions cost 400-500 grams per unit. A vegetable vendor Aliaz Khan told news agency ANI, "I have been selling onions for over 20 years, but I have never seen this kind before. These onions bring some respite as the price of the vegetable have never been this high before. However, only businesses are buying these new onions." 

A local customer said, "These look like the father of onions. They are way too big. We cannot buy this. We will not be able to use it in our food." Others say that they have to buy the onions because they have no other option. "Kharidana to padega hi (We will have to buy eventually)," said another local, Budor Mandal in a disappointed tone.

Skyrocketing prices

Since November, the price of vegetables, especially onions has skyrocketed leading to a heavy financial burden on households. The government later decided to import onions in order to balance demand and supply. Earlier in December, the government's principal spokesperson, KS Dhatwalia, tweeted and said that the government had reduced the stock holding permits of onions for retailers. Dhatiwalia said that the central government had decided to decreased the stick holding permits of onions for retailers, and has brought down the permit from 5 MT to 2 MT. The permit levels, however, remain the same for wholesalers at 25 MT. He further added that importers will continue to remain exempted from these stock limits. This is the second such revision in the past few weeks.

READ: 2 People Arrested By Mumbai Police For Stealing Onions Worth More Than Rs 20,000

In order to arrest the increasing price of onions, Consumer Affairs Minister, Ram Vilas Paswan, announced a number of steps that the government had taken in order to soften the price of onions. He also announced that the government has decided to import 11,000 Metric Ton (MT) of onion from Turkey and 6,090 MT from Egypt. These onions will be available in the market between December 15 and January 15, he had said. 

The government had said that the increasing prices is because of a one month delay in monsoon, which leads to another delay in sowing. This further delays the process of production and distribution in the market. Extremely heavy rainfall in certain regions such as Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan has resulted in a 26 per cent reduction in onion production. 

For the near future, the Central Bank expects the prices in vegetables to increase till February 2020 and soften after that. The Bank projects the CPI inflation to increase to 5.1-4.7% for the second half of 2019/20 and the first half of 2020/21.

(Inputs from ANI)

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