Why soaring onion prices may hurt govt more than tomatoes

为什么洋葱价格飙升比西红柿价格飙升对政府造成的伤害更大？

NEW DELHI: Rising onion prices in India pose a greater risk to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government than a recent spike of 700% in tomatoes, forcing authorities take fresh steps to contain food inflation before key polls.

新德里：印度洋葱价格上涨给莫迪政府带来的风险比最近西红柿价格飙升700%还要大，迫使当局在关键的民意调查之前采取新的措施来控制食品价格通胀。

India has imposed a 40% export tax on onions and plans to sell them locally at subsidized rates. The vegetable stands alongside tomatoes and potatoes as part of a trio of crops so crucial to Indian diets that past price spikes due to crop losses have prevented some ruling parties from returning to power.

印度对洋葱征收40%的出口税，并计划在当地以补贴价格出售。这种蔬菜与西红柿和土豆并列，是印度人饮食至关重要的三种作物之一，过去由于作物损失导致的价格飙升使一些执政党无法重新上台。

Consumers are more sensitive to onions — a vegetable that’s hard to be replaced with any other commodity in many local cuisines — than to tomatoes and potatoes.

与西红柿和土豆相比，消费者对洋葱更敏感——在许多当地菜系中，洋葱是一种很难被其他取代的蔬菜。

The government faced fierce criticism after tomato prices rocketed as much as eight-fold following heavy rains in key growing areas. The cost of tomatoes has been falling, but a steady rise in onions put the authorities on high alert. The moves come as costs rise for many farm commodities, such as wheat and rice, because of poor weather.

由于主要种植区遭遇暴雨，西红柿价格飙升了8倍，政府因此受到了猛烈的批评。西红柿的价格一直在下降，但洋葱价格的稳步上涨使当局保持高度警惕。由于天气恶劣，许多农产品(如小麦和大米)的成本上升。

Stable food prices are crucial for Modi, who will seek a third five-year term in national elections next year. Retail inflation is running at a 15-month high, underscoring the scale of the challenge. The government has curbed exports of wheat, rice and sugar, and may scrap a 40% tariff on wheat imports. It’s selling tomatoes and grain in the open market and curbed stockpiling of some crops.

稳定的食品价格对莫迪来说至关重要，他将在明年的全国大选中寻求第三个五年任期。零售通胀正处于15个月高点，突显出挑战的严重性。政府已经限制了小麦、大米和糖的出口，并可能取消40%的小麦进口关税。在公开市场上出售西红柿和谷物，并限制了一些作物的库存。

“The government’s move on onions is preemptive in nature, as the price rise appears in line with seasonal trends for now,” said Rahul Bajoria, an economist with Barclays Bank Plc. “But with expectations of an erratic end to the monsoon season,” the government is focusing on the risk of food prices staying elevated in the coming months, he said.

巴克莱银行的经济学家Rahul Bajoria说：“政府对洋葱采取的措施本质上是先发制人的，因为目前价格上涨似乎符合季节性趋势。”他说，“但由于预计季风季节的结束不稳定，”政府正在关注未来几个月食品价格保持高位的风险。

印度时报读者的评论：

Sunny•

people of india need to understand that crops may fail and prices will rise due to different factors the opposition will try to store or destroy to gain power and the congress is expert in this in few months it will be normal as the new crop comes

印度人民需要明白，由于不同的因素，农作物可能会欠收，价格会上涨，反对派会囤积或破坏农作物以获得权力，国大党是这方面的专家，几个月后，随着新作物的到来，一切将恢复正常

Vijay Desikan

What if onion prices are high? Nirmalaji does not eat onions.

洋葱价格高又怎么样？希塔拉曼不吃洋葱。

Achyut Bal

“ India has imposed a 40% export tax on onions and plans to sell in local markets at subsidized rates” - what does this mean? It mean that the Govt is actually hel curb the price rise. But how does the presstitute media showcase the news - by making it appear that the Govt is doing nothing and is responsible for price rise.

“印度对洋葱征收40%的出口税，并计划以补贴价格在当地市场销售”——这是什么意思？这意味着政府实际上是在帮助抑制价格上涨。但是，这些媒体是怎么报道新闻的？让人觉得政府什么都不做，应该对价格上涨负责。

Vijay Desikan

What happened to Make In India and export? We need to increase our exports, not put more tariffs on them.

印度制造和出口怎么了？我们需要增加出口，而不是征收更多关税。

Shubhang Pandya

media is fuelling imaginery discontent. people are aware of weather's effects on agricultural output. the market mechanism of price vs demand is an economic principal. people respond suitably.

印度媒体正在煽动民众的不满情绪。人们意识到天气对农业产量的影响。价格对需求的市场机制是经济学原理。人们会做出适当的反应。

Mmmm

Deal all these onion hoarders with red-hot iron-rod.

用烧红的铁棒对付这些洋葱囤积者。

Jaimin Patel

Election is closer and this reminds me how opposition - specially Pawar gang artifically soared onion price and that became a factor in defeat of Vajpayee government.

选举越来越近了，这让我想起反对派，尤其是帕瓦尔团伙人为地抬高洋葱价格，这成为瓦杰帕伊政府失败的一个因素。

goutam ghosh

Govt.needs to closely monitor the activities of hoarders, they are targeting one after another.Tomato - ginger -Onion....

政府应当密切监视囤积者的活动，他们的目标一个接一个，番茄-姜-洋葱

Tsp Padmanabhan

Always it is the hand work direct and indirectly against modi govt. Always tomato, onion, rice, sugar, everything openly hording by opposition parties mainly congress, .

总是直接或间接地反对莫迪政府。西红柿、洋葱、大米、糖，所有的东西都是反对党公开囤积的，主要是国大党。

Amar Akbar Anthony Amrindar

modiji and sataraman tai don't eat onions. so koi problem nathi

莫迪和西塔拉曼不吃洋葱，所以没问题

kg p

Modiji willl declare there is no food inflation, national media will repeat same, inflation khatham!

莫迪会宣布没有食品通胀，媒体也会这样报道，没有通胀

Niranjan

Some powerful farmers are manipulating stocks of tomatoes and onions for political advantage and blame the government for price rise!

一些有权势的农民为了政治利益操纵西红柿和洋葱的库存，并将价格上涨归咎于政府

I Am

As you Sow So Shall You Reap. BJP exploited the inflation during Congress for power, remember MEHGAAI KA M , and now the same MEHGAAI KA M is haunting them.

种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆。人民党靠抨击国大党执政期间的通胀问题而上台，现在报应来了。

Sumit Kumar

Indian people don't understand weather conditions...they want everything either for free or at very cheap rates

印度人不了解天气状况，他们希望所有的东西要么免费，要么价格非常便宜

A

We have to see the farmer's perspective too. If they cannot export and earn some profit then why should anyone else make profit in any business.

我们也必须从农民的角度出发。如果他们不能出口并赚取一些利润，那么为什么其他行业的人可以获利。

Madan Singh

Just a few months ago, farmers were throwing onions on roads and fields as the prices crashed. There must be some cartel working to control prices. Govt should cap the onion prices to max 50 per kg.

就在几个月前，由于洋葱价格暴跌，农民们还把洋葱扔在路上和田地里。一定有什么卡特尔在控制价格。政府应该把洋葱的价格限制在每公斤50卢比。

Ulhas Kulkarni

Onion economics is tricky. Whenever there is a shortfall of just 10%, prices rise TENFOLD. Not only that! You don't even get to SEE good quality onions in the market.

洋葱经济学很棘手。只要缺口只有10%，价格就会上涨10倍。不仅如此，你甚至无法在市场上看到高质量的洋葱。

Moving Pictures

THE KILLING PRICES WILL BE CAMOUFLAGED & PUBLIC WILL BE MISLEAD AS SOON AS CHANDRYAN - 3 LANDS ON MOON.

“月船3号”登陆月球后，飙升的价格问题就被掩盖，公众会被误导。

Guest

It won't hurt Govt;, our memory is short. Now they will make big money, when elections come nearer, prices will drop, almost throw away price.

这不会对印度政府造成伤害，我们很健忘的。现在他们将赚大钱，当选举临近时，价格将会下降，几乎是抛售价。

Shashi Shankar

Any kid of export ban doesn't help anyone. We anyhow pay high prices, it has been few weeks for rice export ban but loose rice price has been hiked by 2 rupee in last few weeks. By banning export we are just limiting farmers income, big warehouses are already in place by business houses, govt will never say that they diluted the essential commodities act to allow such hoarding.

任何形式的出口禁令对任何人都没有帮助。无论如何，我们支付高价，大米出口禁令已经实施了几周，但过去几周大米价格上涨了2卢比。禁止出口，只是限制了农民的收入，商人已经建立了大型仓库，政府永远不会说他们放宽了基本商品法，允许这种囤积。

A

Most of the Bhakts idiots have become so blind due to propaganda that they don't realise that onions and tomatoes are perishable goods. Farmers cannot hoard to drive prices up. The prices go up because of poor crops which basically kill farmers.

由于宣传，大多数印度教笨蛋变得如此盲目，以至于他们没有意识到洋葱和西红柿是易腐品，农民无法通过囤积来抬高价格。粮价上涨的原因是农作物歉收，这基本上扼杀了农民。

A

For a farmer, the survival of his family is more important than Mr. Modi's election victory. A few months ago the farmer was getting Rs.2 per 100 kg tomato after days of hardwork. Now when the onion crops fail and he needs to export some of it to earn a livelihood, this government wants to kill him.

对一名农民来说，家人的生存比莫迪的选举胜利更重要。几个月前，经过长期的辛勤劳作，这位农民每100公斤西红柿能赚到2卢比。现在，当洋葱歉收时，他需要出口一些来维持生计，政府却想要逼死他。

A

The government should realise that the farmers will simply stop growing onions and then even without exporting it will hit Rs.300 per kg.

政府应该意识到，农民只要停止种植洋葱，即使不出口，价格也会涨到每公斤300卢比。