India will have a bumper crop of onions on its hands, thanks to a high number of farmers allocating their land for onions. However, with the restrictions that the coronavirus has caused, the crop could simply go to waste. The fact that the lockdown in India has been extended does not help the business side of things.

India has extended the lockdown for another two weeks, which could have serious implications for the onion season. According to Sagar Tikyani, founder of Indian trading company Dilip Agro, the country is about to have a bumper crop: “The current new summer crop for onions is expected to be higher than the last year, thus we are expecting a bumper harvest. This can mostly be contributed to more farmers choosing to cultivate onions, as they got very good prices last year. Unfortunately, the larger harvest will be of no use to anybody if the world does not come out of the Covid-19 crisis in a relatively short time.”

It goes without saying that the measures India and other countries have taken had an impact on the trade. Tikyani states the prices of logistics are most problematic. “We are constantly monitoring the situation in India and most importantly in the countries that we export to, which are mostly Asian markets. As of now we’re working and exporting but we have cut down our sales targets for our company due to the uncertainty. The major problem is the availability of vessels and most importantly drivers who move the containers. This has resulted in transport costs being increased by at least 50%, and this is just for the movement of cargo to the ports. Despite of all the troubles, we are working and taking the risks as there are good prices available in foreign markets.”