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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Onions at Rs 20/kg? Not so far-fetched; Building buffer & imports can make them cheap-Ashok Gulati

Onions at Rs 20/kg? Not so far-fetched; Building buffer & imports can make them cheap-Ashok Gulati

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published Published on Oct 28, 2013   modified Modified on Oct 28, 2013
-The Economic Times


If I say today that I am ready to supply onions, in an improvised form, at Rs 20/kg home delivered, and round the year, people may think either I have gone crazy or I am dipping into the general exchequer to pull off a massive subsidy scheme for onions. Wrong. I will make a cool profit of 15 to 20% in this deal, do a great service to consumers and farmers of this country, and perhaps also help our policy makers under tremendous pressure following public outrage sparked by the rising onion prices.

How is this feasible? Let us first understand the structure of onion production, its marketing cycle, and what has happened this year which has pushed prices sky high. India produces about 16 million tonnes of onions across three different seasons: rabi onion accounts for roughly 60 %, kharif another 20% and late kharif remaining 20%. Maharashtra accounts for one-third of the country's production, followed by Karnataka (about 18%) and Gujarat another 10%. Together these three states control over 60 % of all India production and roughly three fourths of interstate trade of onions.

The rabi onion is harvested in April-May and stored until September-October, around the time the kharif crop starts coming to the market in the second week of October, peaking in Nov-Dec. The kharif crop will be harvested later and comes to the market in December-January. Late kharif hits the markets in February-March. So the stocks of rabi season are at its lowest in September-October.

This year, there have been heavy rains in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat even during the first two weeks of October. This has delayed the harvest by two to three weeks and at places also damaged the crop. October, early November is also a festive season when the demand peaks. So you have a case of lowest stocks and highest demand. In this situation, if the market sentiments declare scarcity, everyone from farmer to trader to hawker in the onion value chain starts jacking up the price. Call it a perfect storm!

That is what has happened this year. The government had expected that onion prices would automatically come down in the second half of October, so they did not import much stock. But due to heavy rains, this is deferred to November-December. This is what has created a vacuum in the market and pushed prices abnormally high. However, prices will come down and by December-January, they will be back to normal levels of Rs 10-20/kg in the wholesale market, as they were during September to December last year. This sounds impossible today, but in a month's time, this may be a reality.

Now, how do we take care of the critical months (September-October) when stocks hit rock bottom? There are two policy instruments :(a) have buffer stocks; (b) import . We have not exercised any of these policy instruments, and now in panic, we may have to airlift onions and dump at below costs in the domestic markets to douse the fire of onion prices.

Buffer stocking of fresh onions is difficult and require space, and also weight loss as onions contain roughly 80-85 % water. But if one de-hydrates onions in chopped form, eight-0 kgs of fresh onions can be converted into just one kg of dehydrated onions. Normally they are purchased in bulk when prices are low. Last year, wholesale prices were between Rs 750/qtl to Rs 1,100/qtl between January to September ,with an average of Rs 926/qtl for the nine month period. They are then mechanically washed, cleaned, chopped in different sizes (small, medium, large) and then dehydrated.

Storage space is reduced to one-tenth and shelf life increased in years. The beauty of dehydrated onions is that when you put them in water, they absorb water and bounce back to almost the shape of fresh onions. Currently, about 1.5 lakh tonnes of onions are being dehydrated and exported to Japan. The price is Rs 150/kg for dehydrated onions, equal to Rs 15/kg for fresh onions. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi and Gujarat, with large production and demand, can store this equivalent to half a million tonnes of fresh onions and release them in times of crisis, usually in September-October. The processor has already made profits as he is buying fresh at less than Rs 10/kg. Anything above Rs 15/kg is the margin and cost of the distribution to home delivery. And this can be done round the year! This would also give a fillip to our nascent food processing industry, stabilize the prices for farmers and consumers, and would be a long-term solution. The company that is doing it today is Jain Irrigation and we need perhaps five more similar companies in the country. And that is where public policy has to come into action to incentivize the setting up of such plants, or use the existing ones for longer periods, to create a win-win solution. Are any of the chief ministers of these four states ready to walk this path?

(The author is chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices)


The Economic Times, 27 October, 2013, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/comments//analysis/Onions-at-Rs-20/kg-Not-so-far-fetched-Building-buffer--imports-can-make-them-cheap/articleshow/2477


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