Export price of onions up by $80 a tonne

Government agencies have decided to raise the minimum export price (MEP) of onion by $80 (Rs 3,264) to $305 (Rs 12,444) a tonne effective from today following an increase in the domestic prices.

"It was decided yesterday to raise the MEP by $80 a tonne from $225 (Rs 9,180) a tonne for the Nashik variety," a senior official of National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) said.

Thirteen government-designated agencies, including Nafed, meet every month to decide the MEP for onions.

The price hike was necessary as domestic rates have increased since the last revision took place in April, he said. Last week, onion prices in Nashik surged to Rs 950 a quintal compared to Rs 750 a quintal in the previous week, he added. On its impact, the official said there would be no negative impact on exports as MEP is decided on the basis of domestic and international prices.

"The aim of onion MEP is to help farmers get a good price from exports," he said, adding, there was no restriction if an agency exports at higher rates. The country's onion exports till June 15 in this financial year stood at 1.79 lakh tonnes against 2.85 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period last year, an official said. Out of this, Nafed's export stood at 63,000 tonnes. The country exported about 1.13 mt of onion in FY07, which is about 17 per cent of the total production. Onion production is estimated at 6.66 mt during 2006-07 against 8.68 mt in the previous year.