India will start exporting again, consequences for the Netherlands?

In mid-September, the Indian government imposed an export ban on its own onions, because the government had major concerns about the availability of sufficient onions for domestic consumption. It was the result of a very bad harvest. The prospects for the new onion harvest are much more positive, which has already resulted in a sharp price drop on the Indian market. For example, local wholesale prices have more than halved since early November. This has led the government to decide to lift the export ban as of January 1.

Normalization of exports expected
India is usually a major competitor of Dutch onion exporters, especially in the Bangladesh and Pakistan region. Since India has recently been unable to export to these countries, Dutch exporters were able to expand their share to these countries. And that has also been done. Over the past few months, Dutch onion exporters have record record after record, with export figures of more than 40.000 tons. However, the opening of the Indian border does not come as a surprise. According to several insiders, this was to be expected, because Pakistan had already ended the export ban on November 27. This already resulted in less demand from Asia for onions from the Netherlands. 

The result, according to them, is that the heyday for exporters is now over. "The extra demand from Asia has been a nice bonus this season," they indicate. It is expected that export figures will now normalize somewhat and that the weekly volume will again be more in line with the long-term average. There will be more focus on the traditional markets, although a decline in prices is expected. Mainly due to decreased demand. "Yet that cannot be said with certainty. Most of it depends on the month of January and what the figures will be," say insiders.