Onions pile up in Tiruchy godowns as 40% hike in export duty hits sales

TIRUCHY: Onion traders from Tiruchy have expressed concerns about the pile up of onion for the past few weeks due to a 40 per cent increase of export duty and appeal to the government to roll back the duty to save their business.

Tamil Nadu is placed among the top 10 onion producing states in India. This kitchen staple has been exported to Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Australia from the state. Among the districts in Tamil Nadu, onion is widely cultivated in Tiruchy, Perambalur, Thanjavur, Pudukkottai, Ariyalur, Namakkal, Tirupur, Erode, Coimbatore and Dindigul. Tiruchy has been playing a key role in the export of onion in Tamil Nadu and so the traders have established onion mandis in various places in Tiruchy from where they segregate them based on grades or quality.

In such a backdrop, the Centre had passed an order on March 31, in which the government had increased export duty for onion by 40 per cent with effect from May 4. The traders who had struck onion for export have now been struggling to sell them even in the local market.

“Usually, 500 tonnes of shallots and 500 tonnes of big onions arrive at Tiruchy onion mandy every day and usually 200 tonnes of onion would be exported every day. However, the increase in export duty has created a kind of fear among the traders, who are involved in exporting onions as the hike in the duty would eat into their purse,” said Thangaraj, secretary, Tiruchy Onion Mandy Traders Association.

Thangaraj also said that a few traders had stocked onion expecting fair price to compensate their expenditure, including the export duty, but, in fact, the price had not increased. So, they have prepared to sell them in the local market to avert a huge loss, he said and appealed to the Union government to roll back the hike in export duty to save the traders.