LAHORE: India will import onion from Pakistan and Afghanistan to ensure stable prices in the wake of low yield in that country.
The Indian National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) has been asked to prepare the ground and negotiate prices with the source countries. Initially, the approval is for around 20,000 tonnes.
India’s annual onion output touched a record 19.2 million tonnes in 2013-14. Usually it is registered around 16 million tonnes. Based on the price trend, the quantity may increase as well, a source said.
The prices NAFED fixes for the import would have to be viable to states which would do the actual import.
The Indian government has sent instructions to its 60 centres across India to track wholesale and retail price trends in the traditionally onion-deficit states.
