Indonesia asks India to export 900,000 tonnes of onions

New Delhi: Indonesia has sought 900,000 tonnes of onions from India amid the ban on exports, a top Indian government official said. This assumes significance as Indonesia is India’s largest trade partner in Asean, and imports onions mostly from the US, India and New Zealand.

The request comes after India imposed a 40% export tax on onions last August, followed by a minimum export price of $800 per tonne in October, to stabilize domestic supply and prices due to a crop shortfall. Despite these measures, high prices led to a complete export ban in December, effective until the end of the 2023-24 financial year.

“After India’s export ban on onion, traders and importers in Indonesia have been requesting Indian onion, and there is a demand for 900,000 tonnes of onions worth $100,000. Hence, a request has been sent to the Indian government,” the official said.

India accounts for about a fourth of the global onion output and is the largest exporter after the Netherlands and Mexico.

In April-October of the ongoing financial year, India exported 1.4 million tonnes (mt) of onions, including 36,146 tonnes to Indonesia. During the corresponding period of FY23, it exported 1.35 mt of the kitchen staple. In FY23, India’s onion export totalled 2.5 mt, including 116,695 tonnes to Indonesia, according to data from the commerce and industry ministry and exporters.

“The Embassy has not received any information on this issue. Factually, Indonesia is also a producer of onion, particularly small size red onion. In 2023, Indonesia has imported onion with total of 194,107 tonnes, and out of this, total import from India is only 79,000 tonnes,” the Indonesian embassy in New Delhi said.

Queries sent to the spokespeople of consumer affairs, food & public distribution and commerce and industry ministries remained unanswered till the time of publishing this story.

“After the export ban, our containers were detained at the port gate. We have requested the government to allow the export of containers which have been cleared by customs,” said Sanket Hoge, a Mumbai-based agri export consultant.

“The exporters sold onion at ₹20 a kg in the local market after paying ₹45 for crops, packing, labour, stuffing, transport freight, clearance charges, and sea freight. Around ₹25 per kg losses are faced by the exporters for each container,” he said. Exporters also suffered heavy losses at the Bangladesh border.

Production challenges, including erratic rains and extended dry spells, have impacted onion output in the kharif and late kharif (monsoon sowing) seasons. This led to a sharp decline in cultivation area and production, intensifying the political debate ahead of the national election.

On Wednesday, the average retail price of onion was at ₹41.12 a kg, 49.6% higher than the previous year, according to official data.

Onion cultivation area declined nearly 96% year-on-year to 8.6 million hectares (mh) in top grower Maharashtra in the 2023-24 kharif season. Production of the vegetable fell 94% year-on-year to 750,000 tonne in the state.

In Karnataka, the second largest grower, acreage shrank by about 75% to around 11 mh and production by 43.3% from the previous kharif season to 770,000 tonnes, according to agriculture ministry sources.

As per the government’s preliminary assessment, India may have produced 3 million tonnes (mt) and 1.5 mt of onion in the 2023-24 kharif and late kharif seasons, respectively. This is significantly lower than the 4.1 mt and 2.4 mt produced in the respective seasons last year.

In the previous rabi season, onion production stood at 24.6 mt. Average monthly domestic consumption was 1.4-1.7 mt, but that may be lower now depending on the price.

In the 2022-23 crop year, India had produced 30 mt of onions.

“If we look at the data of the last few years, onion farmers have been suffering losses. Despite unseasonal rains, hailstorms and the current drought, the farmers are standing strong, making their way through the conflicting conditions,” Hoge said.

Farmers borrow from banks or cooperative societies for crop cultivation, but in the last few years, the debt burden on farmers has increased significantly, he said. “The central government did not give any direct subsidy when onions were being sold at ₹2 per kg. However, the government intervenes regularly to control rising market prices,” Hoge added.

The absence of exporters from markets due to the ban has depressed onion prices, with further declines anticipated in the coming days.