The National Co-operative Exports Limited (NCEL), entrusted with channelling onion exports to select countries as approved by the government, asserted it is not practical to compare retail prices of onions in importing nations with the wholesale import prices, adding that concerns about prices of recent shipments to the UAE being low were ‘grossly unwarranted’ and stemmed from vested interests.
The price of $550 per metric tonne (MT) for recent shipments to the UAE was fixed by a committee of the multi-State co-operative body’s promoters, keeping local market trends in Dubai and the government’s intent to support food security needs of importing nations in mind, stressed an NCEL official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Exporters for these shipments had been identified through a transparent and fair mechanism and NCEL had purchased onions at about ₹23 per kilogram CFR (cost plus freight) Dubai, which was almost double the rate of ₹12-14 paid by general onion purchasers, NCEL underlined.
Importers are nominated by the foreign government, which also decides the quantities of onions for particular importers, the NCEL noted, emphasising that the Centre had allowed the export of onions to the UAE on humanitarian and food security grounds. In March, the government permitted 14,400 MT of onion exports to the UAE, with a cap of 3,600 MT per quarter, and an additional 10,000 MT of exports had been permitted this month.
The export consignments of 3,400 MT to UAE approved through March were reaching the UAE only from April 8 to April 17, so it was not practical to compare the market prices in the UAE at this juncture, NCEL said. “But vested interests have started making a hue and cry about its pricing, loss to farmers, unholy nexus and corruption insinuations which are grossly warranted,” the NCEL official said.
Noting that the bone of contention was the price at which exports had been executed, the co-operative said there was ‘nothing like a world price for onion’ and horticulture exporters’ reference price of $1,450 per MT was aimed at distorting the narrative.
“NCEL’s export prices may be compared with open market prices in Dubai and not with retail prices,” the NCEL official asserted. “The onions in the supermarkets and hypermarkets of the UAE are sold at varying prices depending on origin [such as ‘Indian’, ‘Egyptian’ and ‘Pakistani’] and are inclusive of VAT, shrinkages, damages, administrative overheads, staff salaries, air-conditioning expenses, storage cost, etc.”, he added.
The co-operative also dismissed any suggestions of an importer-exporter nexus as an effort to derail its work as an umbrella organisation of co-operatives for the export of surplus produce. The NCEL’s extremely transparent policy of sourcing agri-commodities was praised even by its critics, and ‘there was 100% transparency and equitable distribution of would-be-export orders’ in the case of onions, it averred.
