Why is the world facing an onion shortage and will India be impacted?

The world has been facing an acute onion shortage, and the scarcity of the commonly used household vegetable has been pushing up the price of other vegetables. Initially, the Phillippines felt the brunt of the staple shortage resulting in smuggling, resulting in the government launching a probe.

As per a Bloomberg report, onion prices are still on the rise and leading to inflation. Countries like Morocco, Turkey and Kazakhstan have taken action to secure supplies. As per the United Nations and World Bank, the shortage has led to the rise in prices of vegetables and fruits like apples, carrots, potatoes, and tomatoes and hampering availability across the globe. The UK is also facing empty shelves due to a weak harvest in North Africa and southern Spain, as per the report.

Around 106 million metric tonnes of onion are produced globally but the staple has been impacted due to unfavourable climate and geopolitical tensions. The floods in Pakistan last year, frosts damaging central Asian stockpiles and the Russia-Ukraine conflict have been among contributing factors.

North Africa has been impacted by severe droughts and high costs of fertilisers and seeds. In Morocco, poor weather has impacted onion growers. In Kazakhstan, the price of onions going up has forced authorities to resort to strategic stockpiles and the trade minister has urged people not to hoard onions. Apart from that Kazakhstan has also imposed an onion ban along with countries like Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Azerbaijan is putting a limit on sales while Belarus is licensing shipments, the report adds.

Impact on India

While there has been no pronounced impact on India yet, the nation has been known to impose export bans as it did with wheat in 2022 when government procurement plunged. However, India remains the world's second-largest producer of onion as per a 2019 Food and Agriculture Organisation report. India accounts for 28.5 per cent of the world's onion production.

Further, the agriculture ministry had pegged India's onion production to go up 16.81 per cent to 31.12 metric tonnes in 2022-23.

If the past is precedent, India has a slew of measures up its sleeve to deal with onion shortages. In 2010, when a crisis turned into a 'grave' matter for the country, as described by then-PM Manmohan Singh, India responded by banning onion exports, lowering import prices, and getting onions from neighbouring Pakistan. This time, with the world facing a shortage, some of these options might be out of bounds.

Despite a possible global crisis looming when it comes to onions, for now, the only tears Indians are shedding over the matter is while cutting the vegetable.