Onion Export Price Dropped to $250 to Make it Competitive.

Within a fortnight, the government today further lowered the export price of onion by USD 100 to USD 250 a tonne to make it competitive in the international markets.

"Minimum Export Price (MEP) of all varieties of onion, except Bangalore Rose onions and Krishnapuram onions, will be USD 250 per tonne," a Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) notification said here. "For Bangalore Rose onions and Krishnapuram onions it will be USD 300 per tonne", the notification said. There is decrease in these two South Indian varieties too as earlier it was fixed at USD 400 a tonne.

On November 18, the government had reduced export price of onion by USD 125 to USD 350 a tonne. Soon after this decision, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had hinted dropping export price of the kitchen staple to boost farmers earning.

Slashing MEP to USD 350/tonne had failed to yield any substantial results as onions continued to sell at higher rates than those from China and other countries which are below USD 300 a tonne.

India's onion exports has declined by about 2.13 lakh tonnes from April-November 20 this year, agri-cooperative Nafed, a principal government agency which grants NOC for onion shipments, has said.

The country had exported 11,18,426 tonnes between April and November 30 last year, the sources said. Only 9,05,150 tonnes of 'the bulb' had been sent abroad between April and November 15, 2011, a fall of almost 24 per cent. India is the second largest producer of onions in the world after China.

In February, the government had lifted the ban on onion exports following protests from growers due to crashing of domestic prices.

Source : moneycontrol.com