India to Relax Onion Import Restrictions as Domestic Prices Spike

India will import 100,000 tons of onions in an effort to curb rising domestic onion prices, India’s Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said in a Nov. 9 statement on Twitter. The onions will be imported for distribution from Nov. 15 to Dec. 15, according to an unofficial translation of the statement. The move was directly caused by the spike in onion prices, which “have been rising for weeks,” the India Tribune said in a Nov. 7 report. To increase imports, India will relax several measures, including a condition for fumigation and endorsement of the products’ phytosanitary certificate, the report said. The onions will be fumigated in India by the importer “through an accredited treatment provider.”