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To help farmers realise better price in the global market, the Agriculture Ministry has asked the Commerce Ministry to further cut the minimum export price (MEP) of onions to $175 a tonne from the existing $225 per tonne.
“We hope that our view (MEP of $175 a tonne) will be endorsed by the Commerce Ministry and the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) will issue necessary notification very shortly,” the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing, Mr Arun Yadav, said in a statement.
Lowering of MEP will help farmers in better realisation of their product as they will be able to find wider market for themselves, he said.
The Government had lifted the ban on onion exports last month with a high MEP of $600 per tonne. However, it had to slash the MEP four times this month to $225 to boost exports and check the steep fall in domestic prices.
Onion prices, which touched Rs 70-90 per kg in December 2010, have now declined to Rs 10-15 per kg in the retail markets.
India exports onion to the West Asian and Gulf nations. The country exported about 1.8 million tonnes during the 2009-10 fiscal. Production is likely to be around 10.5 mt during 2010-11 down from 12 mt fiscal.
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