The Government has slashed the minimum export price (MEP) of onion for the third time this month to $275 a tonne from the earlier price of $350 a tonne.
“MEP of onions other than Bangalore Rose Onions and Krishnapuram onions will be $275 a tonne F.O.B (freight-on-board),” the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade said in a notification.
On March 1, the MEP was lowered to $450 per tonne from $600 a tonne and again on March 8, it was reduced to $350 a tonne.
Last month, the Government had lifted a ban on onion exports after farmers' protests on crashing of domestic prices. It, however, capped the MEP at a higher level of $600 a tonne as a precautionary measure to control retail prices, which had shot up to Rs 70-80 per kg in December last year.
However, the Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar had subsequently indicated that the MEP of $600 a tonne was almost double the prevailing rate in international markets, rendering the onion exports uncompetitive.
The MEP for Bangalore Rose and Krishnapuram onions was $1,400 a tonne.
The Government had imposed a ban on export of the kitchen staple after its prices rocketed and touched as high as Rs 80-85 a kg.
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.