The Hindu : National : Onion stocks adequate: Ministry

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Friday, Sep 09, 2005

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National

Onion stocks adequate: Ministry

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Agriculture Ministry on Thursday said the market arrivals and stock of onions was adequate and there was no cause for panic.

A review meeting, chaired by Agriculture Secretary, Radha Singh, was held to assess the situation.

The Ministry said the stocks would be further augmented by the arrival of the kharif crop in the coming weeks. This would offset the storage losses reported in the western and central parts of the country due to high humidity and temperature variations.

The prices of onion shot up following reports of storage losses in parts of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. There were also reports that 50 per cent of the stock was being held back by farmers and traders.

According to the representative at the meeting of the National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation in Nasik, Maharashtra, which is the nodal agency for production and supply of onion, the arrivals at Azadpur Mandi in September were 69,510 quintals against 42,100 quintals during the corresponding period last year. In August, 307,810 quintals arrived compared to 262,060 quintals last year.

Lower exports

The representative said the onion storage in 2005 was estimated at 18.90 lakh tonnes against 20.75 lakh tonnes last year.

However, the exports were lower this year: 276,038 quintals between April and August compared to 379,441 quintals last year.

Exporters had been advised to go slow till the situation normalised.

Onion crop in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, Chitradurga, Chilkheri, Vasadurga areas of Karnataka and Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh was expected to ease the situation.

The kharif onion, grown through bulblets in Rajasthan, would arrive in the market from mid-October, while the delayed crop from Maharashtra and Gujarat was expected to arrive from November-end.

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