CHANDIGARH: Onions and garlic are being imported this season from Afghanistan through the Integrated Check-Post (ICP) at the Attari-Wagah border after a few years and not only that the import of dry fruits from the war-torn country has doubled but their prices remain higher side as the festival season in the country has started and orders for Diwali are being placed. Also Aloo Bukhara and Khurmani are in demand.
Sources at that ICP said that after two to three years, one to two truckloads of onions have been coming for the last three days and each truck is carrying between 20 to 40 metric tonnes (20,000 to 40,000 kg per truck). Not only that ten to fifteen trucks of Garlic are coming daily and it is between Rs 80 to Rs 140 per kg.
The import of both onion and garlic to India was restarted because these crops were damaged this season due to untimely rain and hailstorms resulting in a price surge.
Most of the onions and garlic are imported by the traders in Punjab and Delhi. These traders book their consignments with traders based in Afghanistan. It takes about two weeks for the consignment to arrive.
Talking with TNIE, Satish Dhyani, Manager at Land Port Authority of India at the integrated check-post (ICP) said, "On a daily basis, 50 to 55 trucks are coming from Afghanistan to India...before August 15 about 20 trucks were coming."
Anil Mehra a dry fruit importer based at Amritsar told TNIE that the prices of dry fruits are on the higher side this season and have not come down as the crop was comparatively less last year in Afghanistan. This affected the import of dry fruits from Afghanistan last year.
Mehra said,`` Also Aloo Bukhara and Khurmani are in demand.’’
The import during the financial year 2022-2023 was Rs 2,219 crore and it was Rs 2,977 crore during 2021-22 thus a decline of Rs 758 crore. While the export increased from Rs 5 crore during 2021-22 to Rs 74.29 crore in 2022-23, as per the data with ICP.