Pakistan rushing 13,000 tonne onion imports

KARACHI: Pakistan is rushing duty-free imports of 13,000 tonnes of onions to make up for the shortfall of this staple vegetable after extreme monsoons swamped most of the crops in the country, causing the prices of food commodities to spiral out of control.

The government has issues import permits on immediate basis, The News has learnt.

“Import orders have been placed. More import permits are expected on Thursday,” said Waheed Ahmed, Patron-in-Chief of Pakistan Fruits and Vegetable Importers and Exporters Association (PFVA).

“Importers have struck deals with UAE, Turkey, China and Egyptian exporters of onion, while the expected time of arrival of onion cargoes is around 15 to 20 days.”

Ahmed said that onion prices would soon start stabilising in the domestic market.

“However, the arrival of onions and tomatoes from Iran and Afghanistan has already started, and the prices would start normalizing soon.”

As there were no taxes/duties on these imports, consumers would get a better price, he said adding a notification was also issued to this effect.

“Stability in prices of onion will take around 15 to 20 days depending on the transit period, which varies,” Waheed said adding, “Some countries have a transit times of 15 to 25 days”.

Onion is commercially grown in Pakistan on around 131.4 thousand hectares with a production of 1.8 million tonnes. The major onion-growing districts are Kasur and Vehari in Punjab; Hyderabad, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah, Dadu, Badin, Naushero Feroze, Ghotki, and Shikarpur in Sindh; Swat and Dir in NWFP; and Chaghi, Kharan, Kalat, Nasirabad, Mastung, Killa Saifullah, Khuzdar, Turbat, and Jaffarabad in Balochistan.

These districts account for more than 77 percent of the total onion production in Pakistan.

More than 50 percent of the total production comes from eight districts, which are: Hyderabad, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah, Swat, Chaghi, Kharan, and Kalat.

The top ten onion-producing districts are Chaghi, Hyderabad, Sanghar, Swat, Kharan, Kalat, Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah, Nasirabad, and Dir, contributing more than 59 percent of total production.

The total production of onion from Punjab is equivalent to the total production of two districts of Balochistan (Chaghi and Kharan).

Hyderabad and Sanghar districts of Sindh produce 3 percent more than the whole Punjab.

Sanghar is the worst-rain-hit district, while almost 100 percent onion crop has been damaged in Sindh and Balochistan.

Growers in Sindh said that the province witnessed the largest losses. Onion, being the item of daily use, was among the worst-hit vegetables.