Indian onions rotting at the border, being sold at Rs 2 per kg

A few days ago, a report in the Indian media Economic Times said that the country's onion farmers and traders are 'crying' after Bangladesh reduced onion imports. Analysts believe that this situation has arisen due to India's repeated stubborn decisions on onion exports. Indian traders, who are in dire straits, are now giving up onions at the price of water.

It is known that thousands of onions, about 30,000 tons, have reached the stage of rotting in Malda district of West Bengal state, which borders Bangladesh. The district shares a border with Bangladesh's Chapainawabganj district. Various products, including onions, enter Bangladesh from India through the Mahadipur-Chapainawabganj Sonamsjid border crossing in Malda.

A field visit to the Mahadipur-Sonam Masjid border area showed that onions are being sold for just Rs 2 per kg (2.73 taka in Bangladeshi currency) and a 50 kg sack is being sold for just Rs 100 (136 taka in Bangladeshi currency).

In the local market of Malda, onions are being sold for Rs 20 to 22 per kg. However, in Mahadipur, just 7 kilometers away from the city, traders are in tears even before they can cut the onions.

Indian onion exporters have complained that they had stockpiled onions based on verbal promises from Bangladeshi importers. But now Bangladeshi importers are not taking those onions.

Malda onion trader and exporter Sirajul Sheikh said, “There is usually a high demand for onions in Bangladesh at this time of the year. Taking this into account, some of our traders have stockpiled 50 trucks, some 70 trucks and some even more onions for export to Bangladesh. These onions were brought from Indore and Nashik (two districts in the Indian state of Maharashtra). But now they are rotting and we are forced to sell them in the local market for Rs 2, 6, 8 or 10 per kg.’

Another exporter, Zakirul Islam, said, ‘Even two months ago, when import and export were normal, I used to send 30 to 35 trucks of onions to Bangladesh every day. Now the onions in my trucks are rotting and I am forced to sell them in the local market at a nominal price.’