Agri Min demands cut in onion export price to $175/tonne

To help farmers realise better price in the global market, the Agriculture Ministry has asked the Commerce Ministry to further cut the minimum export price (MEP) of onion to $175 per tonne from the existing $275 per tonne.  

"We hope that our view (MEP of $175 per tonne) will be endorsed by the Commerce ministry and Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) will issue necessary notification very shortly," Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Arun Yadav said in a statement. 

Lowering of MEP will help farmers in better realisation of their product as they will be able to find wider market for themselves, he said.

The government had lifted ban on onion exports last month with an high MEP of $600 per tonne. However, the government had to slash the MEP for three times this month to $275 per tonnes to boost exports and check steep fall in domestic prices of onion.

Onion prices, which touched Rs 70-90 per kg in December 2010, have now declined to Rs 10-15 per kg in retail markets.

The MEP for Bangalore Rose and Krishnapuram onions varieties was $1,400 per tonne. India exports onion to West Asia and Gulf nations. The country had exported about 1.8 million tonne of onion in 2009-10 fiscal.

Onion production in the country is likely to be around 10.5 million tonne in 2010-11, down from 12 million tonne last year.