Nafed raises Dec onion MEP by $25/tn

National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation (Nafed) has raised minimum export price (MEP) of onion for December for most destinations by $25 a tonne because of a considerable rise in volume, a senior Nafed official said today.

Rise in domestic prices of onion in the wake of robust export demand is key reason for the recent rise in MEP, he said. India’s onion exports are likely to continue their high pace of growth and are seen rising in December, he added.Onion exports have more than doubled to over 1 million tonnes during the first seven months of the current financial year that ends in March. West Asia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are key buyers of Indian onion.

Nafed has increased MEP for break bulk and containerised exports of onion to Dubai to $305 a tonne from $280 and to $310 a tonne from $285, respectively. MEP of containerised cargo for Malaysia has also been raised to $315 a tonne from $290 a month ago, while for Sri Lanka the same has been increased to $290 a tonne from $265 in November.

However, prices of podisu variety onion for export to Singapore, Malaysia and Sri Lanka have been kept unchanged for December.