Under pressure from farmers in Maharashtra, the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) is likely to reverse its decision to ban export of onions. The group, headed by the Union Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, is scheduled to meet on Tuesday.

Official sources said a delegation of farmers, along with the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Mr Prithvi Raj Chavan, met Mr Mukherjee in Mumbai on Saturday and told him of their plight after the ban. The Finance Minister assured them of considering their views, sources claimed.

To check rising retail prices, the EGoM had banned onion exports on September 7. Following the decision, traders in the Nashik , the biggest onion market in Asia, shut shop in protest. Wholesale prices plunged from over Rs 1,000 a quintal to around Rs 600 following the ban.

Though the EGoM had decided to review the ban every fortnight, widespread protests, especially by farmers, are believed to have forced the Centre to reconsider its decision within 10 days.

According to the Web site of the Department of Consumer Affairs, retail price of onions in Delhi declined from Rs 25 a kg on September 12 to Rs 23 a kg on Monday. Yet, this is high compared with Rs 19 a kg about a month ago.

Onion production in the country is likely to touch 151.36 lakh tonnes in 2011-12 from the previous year's output of 145.62 lakh tonnes.

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