This article is from the WeChat public account: Zhengjie Bureau (ID: zhengjieclub) , original title: “People Take the Street, Prime Minister Steps Down: Little Onions Become India’s Big Nightmare” From: Visual China

In India, onions are both “national food” and “political vegetables.”

Life is like peeling an onion. There is always a piece of tears.

The reason why onions can make people cry, in addition to the volatile alliinase, there are also rising prices.

Just recently, out-of-control onions triggered a crisis in India. Historically, India’s “onion crisis” has often occurred, ranging from the people to the streets to the prime minister’s resignation.

Why is the onion a nightmare in India? What warnings does China bring?

1. Onions whose price has increased 100 times

This wave of price increases started in August this year.

At that time, the price of onion was about 25 rupees (about 2.5 yuan) One kilogram, now it has risen to 100 to 150 rupees

(India suffers from drought)

In September of this year, the second harvest season of Indian onions encountered another monsoon rain and flood. A lot of onions are soaked in water before they are picked, and the yield is greatly reduced.

Second, this is a human disaster.

The Economist has reported the story of a journey of an onion. In this report, Indian onions are picked from the field and sold on the market, and they have to be loaded, sorted and repacked at least 4 times.

This book is understandable, the key is that the loss in circulation is too large.

In the article “Another Fresh Life E-commerce Explosion: Burning Out Investors’ Money, Your Balance Is Suspended”, I have analyzed one of the major difficulties of fresh electricity businessIt is a traditional link with a long chain, which consumes a lot in logistics, wear, and packaging.

In fact, compared with China, India suffers greater losses of fruits and vegetables due to backward infrastructure such as transportation and storage. A report from the Bank of India shows that about 40% of the fruits and vegetables produced in India rot before they are sold.

In addition, statistics show that Indian onions lost more than a third of their weight due to breakage or dryness during circulation.

Natural disasters have reduced production, and human disasters have increased losses. Onions are naturally in short supply and prices have soared.

2. The people of India love onions

In our opinion, prices are soaring that Indians can eat less onions or substitute other vegetables.

However, for Indians, onions are irreplaceable.

India is facing the sea, and most of it is in the tropical monsoon zone. It is one of the hottest countries in the world.

The hot climate is reducing appetite, which is why Indians almost eat curry.

Onion is the basic material for making Indian curry, so it has the reputation of “national food”.

(Indian Food)

Another reason for the popularity of onions is their cheapness.

The latest report on the Multidimensional Poverty Index, jointly launched by the United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Project, shows that 28% of India ’s population is still in poverty.

This also means that 300 million people in India live on less than $ 1.9 per day. (about RMB 13.3) .

For these people, chicken, duck and fish are too extravagant. Vegetables are the staple food. Onions with prices as low as 0.1 yuan per kilo are the most favorite.

India’s food historian Mohseena Mukadam said that in western India, if people couldn’t afford vegetables, they would eat onions and bread.

3. Frequent Onion Crisis

Because onions are important to the people of India, every time the price of onions rises, it will cause a crisis.

As a daily necessities, soaring onion prices have accelerated inflation, which has also triggered social protests.

In protest of the increase in onion prices, a newlywed in India chose to use onions instead of flowers at weddings and put onion “garlands” on the other side.

(A newly-wed couple in India chose to use onion instead of flowers at the wedding, and put onion “garland” on the other side to protest the onion price increase) < / p>

Some Indians can’t afford onions and have to steal them.

A vegetable vendor’s shop was stolen, and there was no shortage of cash. Rs 50,000

(Indian snapped up onions)

People are far from the rivers and lakes, and the officials who live high in the temples are not good.

In 1980, the price of onions skyrocketed, and the ruling party, the Indian People’s Party, was blamed because of unfavorable price control.

Indira Gandhi, the leader of the opposition party and Congress Party at the time, took the opportunity to wear onions around his neck in a necklace and shouted the exit number:

A government that cannot control the price of onions has no power to control the government.

Indira Gandhi eventually won the support of voters and was re-elected as Prime Minister. In a sense, the former Prime Minister was ousted by Onion.

(Indira Gandhi wears a string of onions around her neck)

It can be seen that in India, onions are both “national food” and “political vegetables”.

The sufficient supply of onions directly affects the daily diet of ordinary people, and also affects millions of votes in general elections.

Interestingly, the “onion crisis” occurs almost every once in a while-

In 1998, the price of onions soared, causing the BJP to lose in subsequent local parliamentary elections.

In 2005, the onion rose, triggering demonstrations.

In 2010, the onion crisis broke out again, triggering tens of thousands of demonstrations and paralyzing parts of New Delhi.

In 2013, during the onion price turmoil, Indians sued the Indian government to the Supreme Court.

The “Onion Crisis” even spread overseas.

India is a big exporter of onions. In order to stabilize prices, India stopped exporting onions and gave priority to domestic demand. But it has been suffering from Bangladesh, Nepal and other countries that imported onions from India.

India export bans have been lifted, and Bangladesh and Nepal ’s onion prices have soared. Onion prices in Bangladesh have soared nine-fold in a few months, and onion prices in Sri Lanka have recently risen by 50%.

The onion crisis has become a nightmare for almost all of South Asia.

4. National Food Security Behind Onions

Small onions, big livelihood.

The “onion crisis” is a problem of people’s livelihood and a political problem, but it is essentially a “national food security” problem.

In the article “The Defense of Pork and China’s Food Security”, I emphasized that China must keep the “1.8 billion mu of arable land red line”, be self-sufficient, and ensure food security.

An important argument is that imports are not enough to meet China’s food needs. Some readers disagree. This time, India’s “onion crisis” taught us another lesson.

In order to solve the “onion crisis”, the Indian government has adopted measures to combat hoarders and stop exports, but most of them are not satisfactory.

Expansion of imports with high hopes has also had little effect.

Why can’t imports solve India’s “onion crisis”?

The reasons have something in common with the inability of imports to address China’s pork demand.

First, other countries cannot meet the needs of India.

According to the latest data from the United Nations, the global annual onion output has reached 84.75 million tons, 65% of which are produced in eight countries, of which China and India account for 50% of the world.

(The output ranking of the world’s eight largest onion producers)

Once there is a gap in India ’s own onions, all imports from other countries except China are a waste of money.

Second, onions in other countries cannot be imported if you want to import them.

Although China has the largest onion production in the world, its domestic demand is also large, and not many are exported.

Customs data for 2017 show that China’s onion exports are only 878,000 tons.

This export volume, even if it is all shipped to India, is not 1/20 of the total Indian onion production.

Not to mention, most onion outlets have fixed export targets. If the “onion crisis” erupts in India, China will not be able to temporarily export “well-known” onions to India.

India ’s onion prices have skyrocketed after India banned the export of onions. China has just squeezed out a portion of its onion inventory and supplies 40 tons of onions to Nepal every day to meet the basic needs of Nepalese people.

Third, imported onions are not cheap.

There is no free lunch in the world, and the price of onions in India has soared, and the prices of imported onions will not be cheap.

The data shows that the CIF price of imported onions in India has risen to 50 to 60 rupees per kilogram, plus additional costs such as packaging, handling and transportation, the terminal price has reached around 90 rupees.

This is still a price that ordinary people cannot afford.

No matter how many onions, what good is it that ordinary people cannot afford?

The time is almost the same. The prices of Chinese pork and Indian onions have risen sharply. This may be a coincidence, but I prefer to see it as a warning:

China must hold the rice bowl firmly in its own hands.

This article is from WeChat public account: Zhengjie Bureau (ID: zhengjieclub)