Pakistan yet to decide on resuming onion exports to India

ISLAMABAD, January 8 (Agencies): Pakistan is yet to decide on India's request for resumption of onion exports through the Wagah land border crossing after it was banned earlier this week to stabilise prices in domestic markets.
Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal has taken up the matter with Pakistani authorities, who have not yet conveyed a formal response to the request to resume exports, officials of the High Commission said. Efforts are also being made to get Pakistani authorities to clear consignments that had already been contracted for, the officials said. Customs officials and traders in Lahore, from where the consignments were being sent to India, too confirmed that the ban had not yet been lifted. Officials said they were awaiting word from the Commerce and Foreign Ministries, which would decide on India's call for resumption of exports.
Pakistani authorities stopped onion exports via Wagah on Wednesday, ostensibly to control surging prices in markets across the country. Officials and some trade lobbies contended that prices had risen since the exports to India began in mid-December. Sources said concerns about the under-invoicing of onion consignments sent via the land route had influenced the decision to ban exports through Wagah.
Exports by sea are still allowed as the invoicing system for maritime consignments is less vulnerable to irregularities, sources said. Contrary to media reports that Pakistan might face a shortage of onions in the coming months due to exports to India, sources in business circles said the output in areas like Sindh had been good despite the devastation caused to agricultural lands by last year's floods. Prices of onions in India shot up by Rs 5 to Rs 10 per kg since Thursday after Pakistan curbed exports through the land route. Onion exports began late last year after prices registered a sharp rise in India.
 
Wholesale onion prices decline by Rs 3

New Delhi, January 8 (Agencies):
Wholesale prices of onion declined by Rs 3 to Rs 40 per kg in Delhi due to increased arrival from key growing states. "Arrival of onions are increasing from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. As a result, prices have come down by Rs 3 per kg from yesterday's level," General Secretary of Tomato and Onion Merchant Association (based in Delhi's Azadpur mandi) Rajendra Sharma told PTI.
Arrivals today were over 1,100 tonnes with maximum stock coming from Maharashtra and Gujarat. Sharma said the impact on retail prices would be seen in the next 2-3 days. The retail prices of onion had touched a peak of Rs 70-85 per kg on December 22, 2010 due to sluggish supply in the wake of crop damage due to unseasonal rains. Yesterday, retail onion prices also eased by Rs 5-10 a kg in major metros following raids on traders by income tax authorities in Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir.