New Delhi India will import onions from Pakistan and China to tide over the shortage caused by poor crop yield due to heavy rains and floods.
?We have contracted the import of 2,000 tonnes of onions from China and 650 tonnes from Pakistan and the overall prices of the commodity will stabilise soon," said, senior official of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) Alok Ranjan.
The first consignment of 30 tonnes of onions from Pakistan came via the Wagah border on Saturday and fresh consignments are due in the coming days, importers said.
Prices of onions have soared in the past two weeks with consumers being asked to pay Rs 30 per kg of onions compared to Rs eight per kg in 2004.
"High humidity conditions have led to spoilage in stored onions, thereby impacting the availability in the market," NAFEED said.
"With the increase in the consumer price of onions in some cities, the government has decided to import onions through NAFED to protect consumer interest," he added.
The price of onions is a sensitive issue with voters in 1998 throwing out the BJP in Delhi's Assembly elections due to its inability to control soaring prices of the vegetable.
Congress party too had conflicting moments in 2003 when prices of onions jumped just ahead of polls in Delhi.
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