LAHORE: The huge demand of Pakistani onion by India has pushed the vegetable’s wholesale price up from Rs1,000 to Rs1,500 per 40kg and will likely to be further increased by the end of this month.
The retail price of onion has increased up to Rs60 per kg from Rs40. Vegetable Exporter and Importer Association President Shabbir Ahmed said that with onion prices shooting up dramatically in Delhi, the Indian government has asked the state-owned company to import 25,000 tons of the key kitchen staple quickly.
He said that Pakistan, in this situation, has started to fetch higher export orders for onion not only from India but also from Bangladesh who also returned to the international markets to overcome local shortage in supplies.
Shabbir said that Pakistan has registered an increase in demand from the overseas markets in the last couple of weeks while India has also started importing onion from Pakistan via Wagah border. On an average, some 10 trucks of onions have been crossing the Wagah border daily to enter into India from Pakistan. Each truck carries some 15-20 tons of onions.
