Ban on onion stocking extended till March

The Central government on Friday extended the ban on stocking onions beyond the prescribed limit by three months in order to curb its rising prices.

"To check the hoarding of onion, the date of stock limit of onion has been extended, from December 31, till March 31, Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan tweeted.

The order empowers states to keep a tab on hoarding by traders.

Despite the government taking measures such as procuring onion from local markets, discouraging export, the price of onion has remained high in the past few weeks.

According to the Ministry data, on Friday, onion was sold at Rs 55 per kg in Delhi, Rs 46 per kg in Mumbai, Rs 55 per kg in Kolkata and Rs 39 per kg in Chennai.

Last month, Paswan had said the public sector body MMTC would import 2,000 tonnes of onion while the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India and Small Farmers Agriculture-business Consortium would procure 10,000 tonnes and 2,000 tonnes, respectively, from farmers to boost supply of onions.

Onion output was 189 lakh tonnes in 2014-15, 209 lakh tonnes in 2015-16 and 217 lakh tonnes in 2016-17. The Agriculture Ministry has not yet come up with data on the output in 2017-18.

--IANS

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