Commerce and Trade Minister Piyush Goyal has assured garlic merchants to look into their issues over unlawful imports of the agri commodity, an official stated on Saturday.
A delegation of garlic merchants met the minister on January 10 and highlighted difficulties confronted by farmers and merchants as a result of imports of Chinese language garlic, the commerce ministry official stated.
In response to the merchants, Chinese language garlic is banned in India, however it’s being introduced into the nation, which is hurting farmers and merchants, other than distorting the garlic market.
The merchants have alleged that some imports have been routed through Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq to bypass the ban on Chinese language imports.
“The minister assured them that the federal government will study their petition and take robust motion in opposition to unlawful imports, if any,” the official added.
The nation’s garlic imports stood at USD 7 million throughout April-October this fiscal. It was USD 31.4 million in 2023-24.
About 80 per cent of the imports are coming from Afghanistan. Different main exporters to India embrace UAE, Iran and Egypt.
