Bangladesh’s government has given the go-ahead to import onions from nine nations, including Pakistan.
This decision aims to address the rising onion prices in the domestic market, claims a press release issued on Thursday by the nation’s Ministry of Agriculture. According to the statement from the ministry, Pakistan will supply a total of 11,820 tonnes of onions.
In addition, Bangladesh will import 3,910 tonnes from Egypt, 1,100 tonnes from Qatar, 2,110 tonnes from Turkey, 200 tonnes from Myanmar, 33 tonnes from Thailand, 4 tonnes from the Netherlands, and 3 tonnes from the United Arab Emirates.
In contrast to the authorised import capacity of 1.3 million tonnes, Bangladesh has only imported 379,000 tonnes of onions thus far. This increase in onion sourcing follows India imposing a 40% export duty on onions, which caused price increases in Bangladesh’s wholesale and retail markets.
The Indian government enacted the export duty as a measure to stabilise local onion prices. It became effective on August 19 and is scheduled to last until December 31.
Between 2014 and 2021, Pakistan’s onion production rose by almost 37%, from 1.6 million tonnes to 2.3 million tonnes, before experiencing a 10 percent decline from 2021 to 22. In a similar period, the cultivated area increased by almost 17%, rising from 0.32 million acres to 0.38 million acres before reverting to 0.34 million acres.
Of Pakistan’s total onion production, Sindh and Balochistan account for 39% (0.69 million tonnes) and 39% (0.82 million tonnes), respectively, while Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa account for 16% and 10.5 percent.
The recent decline in exports and last year’s floods, which reportedly caused losses of close to Rs. 10 billion and destroyed crops in many areas of Balochistan and interior Sindh, are largely to blame for the decrease in area and production.
According to Saher Naviwala, Senior Commodity Trader at SMI International, “Pakistan is a significant exporter of onions to the Middle East, Singapore, and Malaysia, but our onions struggle in quality and taste against that of India.”
According to Naviwala, India not only provides a larger crop over a longer period of time than Pakistan, but also better quality in terms of colour and flavour, as well as stable prices. On the other hand, the announcement of Indian export restrictions has caused the market in Pakistan to become too volatile.
Therefore, in addition to using modern farming techniques, Pakistan lacks export-competitive varieties of onions, whereas we have a nearly year-long growing season for potatoes and experience high global demand. Additionally, there isn’t much in the way of cold storage infrastructure, and exports of potatoes primarily make use of it. To effectively take advantage of the market opportunities, there is a lot of work to be done.
