Floor export price of $450 a tonne on potatoes

Move comes nine days after the government imposed an MEP of $300 a tonne on onions

The Union government on Thursday imposed a minimum export price (MEP) of $450 a tonne on potatoes, to augment domestic supply. It had seen a recent surge in prices.

India exported 220,000 tonnes of potatoes in 2013-14 against 160,000 the previous year. In value terms, Rs 251 crore from Rs 148 crore. Exports were a miniscule proportion of the 42.4 million tonnes produced in 2012-13.

Wholesale Price Inflation (WPI) in the item was over 30 per cent for three months till May, year-on-year. Compared to March 2014, WPI inflation rose 40 per cent, according to the commerce ministry. There was a similar increase of 30 per cent in the retail price inflation for the same period. Further, the modal (a kind of average) rates for potatoes saw an increase of 37 per cent to 114 per cent from March till June in the four metropolitan cities, the ministry stated.

The move came nine days after the government imposed an MEP of $300 a tonne on onions.