Onion exports price kept unchanged

State-run National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (Nafed) of India has left the minimum export price (MEP) for onion for April largely unchanged from March, Chairman C B Holkar has said.

The MEP for the Bengaluru variety, however, had been reduced to $450 a tonne to support the falling prices in Karnataka, Holkar said. Export price for Bangladesh had been increased by $25 to $185 a tonne, he said. "MEP for Bangladesh has been raised to discourage exports from neighbouring West Bengal, where the prices have gone up on the back of crop damage due to rains during harvesting," Holkar added.

MEP for March was also unchanged from February, in the range of $165-$390 a tonne.

Accordingly, MEP for West Asian countries will remain in $185-210 a tonne, and for Sri Lanka it will be $165, according to an official at Maharashtra State Agricultural Marketing Board.

MEP for Malaysia will be revised to $165, the official said. The Gulf countries, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka are key export destinations of Indian onion, he added.

Out of 13 agencies, Nafed is the main canalising agency for export of onion.