Onion exports may dip over 30 per cent

The country's onion exports are likely to fall by almost a third to about eight lakh tonnes in 2007-08 due to curbs on overseas sales during the festival season and congestion at ports.

"We have exported about six lakh tonnes till December and the final export figure for the financial year is likely to be around eight lakh tonnes, a decline of 31 per cent from previous year's 11.61 lakh tonnes," a senior government official said.

The official said despite a substantial cut in minimum export price (MEP), exports over the next three months would not be more than two lakh tonnes due to congestion at ports.

Onion exports declined by 36 per cent to 5.97 lakh tons during the April-December period compared with 9.26 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period. The country produces about 65 lakh tonnes of onion annually.

The move to raise the MEP during the festival season (due to high domestic prices) was the main factor for the decline in exports, traders said, adding November-December was very good period to sell onions in overseas markets.

After the festival season, Nafed and 12 other agencies, which fix the export prices every month, had drastically cut the MEP for most of the destinations to boost overseas sales.

The onion MEP for January shipments stands at $200 a tonne for most of the destinations such as Gulf countries. The MEP was $495 a tonne in October last year.

As a result of higher MEP, the exports in October and November were 23,785 tonnes and 30,714 tonnes respectively. The exports in the same period of the previous year were 88,389 tonnes and 1.08 lakh tonnes respectively.