The government has increased the minimum export price (MEP) of onion on an average by $30 a tonne for the rest of June as domestic prices have firmed up on fears that an erratic monsoon might clip output in the ensuing kharif season.
The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (Nafed), the country’s onion export agency, has fixed the new export rates of onion between $155 to $220 a tonne for importing nations in the Gulf region.
The container rates for countries in Singapore and Malaysia would vary from $170 to $195 a tonne. Export rates for neighbouring Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka has been fixed at $185 a tonne, $240 a tonne, $170 a tonne, respectively.
Earlier in May, in a bid to push up onion exports, the government had reduced the minimum export price on an average by $40 a tonne to $155-$160 a tonne.
The revised MEP will remain effective until June 30, a NAFED release said.
In the two major onion producing states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, the south west monsoon rains have so far been very scanty. The monsoon has been dormant for nearly 10 days and India Meteorological Department in its forecast today said it is unlikely to advance for the next three days.
At the country’s major onion trading hub in Nasik, wholesale price of the vegetable has risen from Rs 450 a quintal in May to Rs 600 in June.
Onion exports touched a record 1.6 million tonnes in 2008-09 (July-June) compared with 1.1 million tonnes the previous year. With onion acreage seen rising this year, annual production is estimated to be around 7.6 million tonnes.
