Onion exports fall 24 per cent

The country's onion exports have fallen by 24 per cent to about 821,000 tonnes in the current financial year till February 16, Minister of State for Agriculture Kanti Lal Bhuria informed the Lok Sabha today.

Onion production was estimated to decline by 17.6 per cent in 2006-07 at 7.2 million tonnes from 8.7 million tonnes in the previous year, he added.

Bhuria said that the movement of monthly Index for Wholesale Prices (WPI) for onion rose from 114.6 in March 2006 to 322.8 in November 2007, but subsequently fell to 169.4 on February 16, 2008.

In order to stabilise the onion prices, the minister said the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) had reduced the minimum export price (MEP) and started the commercial purchase in Nasik from February 1, 2008.

"This step will help in stabilising the market price of onion," Bhuria said adding that regular monitoring of prices and market arrivals are also being done.