People flock to govt stores to buy onions at reduced prices in Nepal

Sep 29, 2020

Kathmandu (Nepal), September 29 (ANI): Amid rising prices of onions in the retail market, residents of Kathmandu on Monday afternoon flocked the Food Management and Trading Company (FMTC) to buy onions for Nrs. 60 per kilogram. The price of onions has skyrocketed after India halted its export that now stands at least Nrs. 120 in the local market per kilogram. The state-owned trading entity is selling the onions that were seized from the black-marketers inside various locations of Kathmandu about two weeks ago. Fifty-two rupees from sales of onion from the state-owned trading entity will go to the national treasury while the FMTC will take the remaining Nrs. 8 as handling charge in due course of sell-off. Over 70 per cent of confiscated onions from unscrupulous traders already have been sold off and the remaining 25 per cent is expected to be purchased by consumers by Tuesday. Nepal always has been importing onions from India as its own production is not enough to meet the domestic demands. As per the official figures, the Himalayan Nation produced 2, 39,000 tons of onions from around 20,000 hectares while it imported 3, 10,000 tons from other countries, mostly from India. India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry on September 14 had issued a public notice prohibiting the export of all varieties of onion.