KARACHI: The country has received export orders of $90 million for onion from regional importers after a gap of 4 to 5 years in the wake of the current bumper onion crop in Sindh.
Pakistan’s onion export had been in disarray for the last several months on account of devastation of the crop by the torrential rains, which played havoc with the standing crop in Balochistan, NWFP and Sindh provinces.
The shortage of the commodity had forced the government to allow import of the commodity from India as the country imported onion worth billions of rupees from July onwards, which largely helped to fulfil the domestic consumers’ requirements. One of the major factors that contributed to stupendous demand of the Pakistani onion from Singapore, Malysia and Gulf countries specially Dubai, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh was the recent devastation of the Indian crop, which spurred the demand of Pakistani yield.
India is considered as a major supplier of onion to most countries of the region, however, ruining of the commodity has created tremendous opportunity for the Pakistani exporters to exploit the situation and earn precious foreign exchange for the country, which it badly needed.
Currently exporters have received around 250,000 metric tonnes to 300,000 metric tonnes of orders with higher quoted prices as compared to previous years, which stood around 150,000 to 200,000 metric tonnes.
Other major feature of the export order was higher onion prices of $250 to $300 per metric tonne boosted by non-availability of the Indian commodity. Previous years the prices remained in the range of $150 to $200 per metric tonne.
Haji Shahjahan, who is regarded as a major onion exporter besides being Chairman Wholesale Vegetable Welfare Association, Subzai Mandi Karachi while replying to a question of the Daily Times acknowledged about the tremendous financial prospects the onion export promises for the next few months.
There are bright chances that the country may secure further larger orders from other countries of the region if the Indian crop failed to reach the international market in time by the mid of December. He said currently every week two ships, each carrying 150 to 200 containers of the commodity are leaving Karachi port for their onward export destinations, while a large quantity weighing thousands of tonnes of the commodity are daily transported by launches and other modes to the Gulf region.
One of the major positive aspects of the local bumper crop was a sharp decline in its rates in the wholesale markets, which currently stands at Rs 10 to Rs 12 per kilogramme as compared with the previous month’s prices of Rs 16 to Rs 18 per kg, which is also likely to provide some financial relief to the domestic consumers.
Source : Dailytimes