Onion exports dip by 21% to 7.76 lakh tonnes

Onion exports declined by 21 per cent to over 7.76 lakh tonnes during April-December period of the current financial year mainly due to price restrictions imposed on outbound shipments.
According to data compiled by the National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF), onion exports stood at 9.87 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period of 2013-14 fiscal.
In value terms, exports dipped by 46 per cent to Rs 1,364.74 crore during the first nine months of this fiscal as compared to Rs 2,532 crore in the year-ago period.
During the entire 2013-14 fiscal, onion exports stood at 13,58,193 tonnes worth Rs 2,877.13 crore.

The government had imposed a minimum export price (MEP) of onion in June last year at USD 300 per tonne to curb shipments and check rising retail prices.
In July 2014, the MEP was raised to USD 500 per tonnes and then again reduced to USD 300 per tonne on August 21, 2014.

Onion production is estimated at 193.56 lakh tonnes in the 2014-15 crop year, slightly less than 194 lakh tonnes in the previous year. Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Bihar are the major onion producing states.
Onions prices are ruling at about Rs 25-30 per kg in the retail markets of the national capital.

NHRDF was established by co-operative NAFED in 1977 to guide farmers, exporters and others concerned for improving the productivity and quality of horticultural crops.
Onion was the first crop on which the NHRDF has started its R&D programmes and subsequently garlic, okra, chilli, french bean crops etc. Have been added.