Pawar: High MEP a hurdle to Indian onion exports...

Pitching for reducing the minimum export price of onions after a decline in international prices, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday said despite opening up of trade, the high floor price is creating hurdles for Indian onion exports. The government had, last week, allowed the export of all onion varieties, but with a minimum export price of $600 per tonne.

“I have enquired from states which export onions to different countries and have been informed that the prevailing international export price is around $250-300, but our MEP, at $600 per tonne, is almost double,” Pawar told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

Pawar said he hopes the empowered group of ministers, which is expected to meet this week, will consider lowering the MEP. He also said recent rains in north and central India will not have an impact on the standing wheat crop and that the country is set to see record wheat output this year. Pawar also advocated opening up of wheat exports to help farmers get better prices for their produce.

An EGoM, headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, had, last week, decided to lift the ban on onion exports following protests by farmers over a fall in domestic prices within two months of touching Rs 80 a kg. However, as a precautionary measure against the possibility of prices rising again, the EGoM decided to allow shipments of onions at an MEP of $600 per tonne. Pawar and Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had earlier asked commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma to open onion exports, since farmers in Maharashtra (a major producer of sugar) agitated against the fall in prices as a result of oversupply.

Before the ban, India had exported 1.15 million tonne of onions, mainly to gulf countries, Sri Lanka and Malaysia in the April-November period of this financial year.