India importing onion, despite export rising 56% in April-July

India’s onion export rose by 56 per cent to 1.23 million tonnes in April-July this year, but the country has now gone in for import of the kitchen staple as retail prices have shot up to Rs 65-70 per kg because of tight supplies.

In value terms too, the onion export increased by 47.69 per cent to Rs 1,443.09 crore in the period under review, from Rs 977.84 crore a year ago, it said.
 

Last week, the government allowed state-owned agencies such as  MMTC to import onions from countries such as Egypt and China to increase availability and cool retail prices