Onion export price unchanged

The government has kept the minimum export price (MEP) of onion unchanged at $180 a tonne for the month of March to ensure higher exports.

There has been a marginal reduction of $10 a tonne only for exports to Bangladesh, since prices are ruling at lower levels in Kolkata. This export price is almost half of the $345 a tonne that existed in March last year.

Onion exports during April-January of the current year were down by about 23 per cent, mainly due to a higher MEP for most part of the year. The country exported 993,516 tonnes during the period as against 764,897 tonnes a year ago.

In October 2007, when the domestic prices touched Rs 24 a kg, the government stopped issuing no objection certificates (NoC) to exporters.

Since onion exports are canalised, exporters are required to obtain NoCs from the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (Nafed) and 12 state agencies. During that month, exports were at 23,785 tonnes, about 73 per cent less than a year ago.

"Late kharif crop arrivals are heavy in the market and rabi arrivals will also start in another month. The domestic prices have remained stable and this trend is likely to continue in the near future. Therefore, MEP has been kept unchanged," said an official at Nafed, the agency that revises MEP.

Retail onion prices have come down from Rs 15 to Rs 8 a kg in the last three months. "Wholesale prices in Maharashtra and Gujarat, the two states where onion crop is being harvested in a major way, are ruling in the range of Rs 150-300 a quintal depending on the quality," said R P Gupta, director, National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF).

These two states together account for almost half of the country's total onion production.

According to the NHRDF, onion output for the year is estimated at 7.7 million tonnes, up about 15 per cent from last year's 6.66 million tonnes.