Onion dehydrating firms commence manufacturing from January and continue it till July. Exporting is done in between this period. However, this year comes with misfortune for farmers and
food manufacturing companies. Due to steep price of fresh onions, the costing of producing dehydrated range of onion products rises and the overseas demand for such products seems neglected by major exporters - all because of the shortage of products.
As per the industrialists, dehydrating companies get 1 kg of dried onions from 10 kg fresh onion as the commodity is made from 90% of water.
"Our industry is completely relying on global demand and this is a significant period for us. However, due to uncertain rainfall and unexpected weather conditions, farmers are bearing major crisis."
Present price of fresh onion is ranging from Rs 12 to Rs 18 per kg (wholesale). It is been more than three months, the price of onion remains uncertain and has not gone below Rs 10- this is something we can call bad for dehydration industry.
Experts from the industry told- "raw onions prices are high this season, over 50 units have been closed and shut down their production due to paucity of demand. Even exporting business is in vein due to such price hike. Overseas buyers want to deal with Indian exporters, but this remains unviable for
dehydrated onions exporters in India."
