SL places orders for onion imports with Egypt, China as India ban bites

Sri Lanka has placed orders for alternative onion imports as India, the world’s biggest onion seller, banned exports after the extended monsoon downpours delayed harvests and supplies shrivelled. 

According to a Reuters report quoting Importers and Traders Association Essential Food Commodities President G. Rajendran, Sri Lanka has already placed orders with Egypt and China.The onion prices in Sri Lanka have risen by 50 percent in a week, to Rs.280-300 per kilogramme.Last Sunday, New Delhi banned all exports from India after the local prices jumped to 4,500 Indian rupees per 100 kg, their highest in nearly six years, due to the delay in summer-sown crop arrivals triggered by longer, heavier rains than usual.

India exported 2.2 million tonnes of fresh onions in the 2018/19 fiscal year ended March 31, according to data from India’s Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority. 

That’s more than half of all imports by Asian countries, traders estimate.

The onion prices are going up elsewhere in Asia and Europe as other exporting countries are taking advantage of the Indian ban.