"Since the price of onion has stabilised and there is bumper onion crop, government has decided to lift ban on export of onions. Expected monthly harvest in March is over 40 lakh MT compared to 28.4 lakh MT last year," Food Minister
The lifting of ban would be effective once the Directorate General of
The GoM on Wednesday also deliberated on whether to reduce or scrap the Minimum Export Price (MEP) on onion to facilitate outbound shipments, the sources said.
The MEP is the rate below which no exports are allowed.
Paswan, Agriculture Minister
In September 2019, the government banned onion exports and also imposed a MEP of USD 850 per tonne. The move came after prices had started skyrocketing due to supply-demand mismatch.
There was shortage of onion as
Currently, the arrival of rabi (winter) crop of onion has begun in small quantities and would increase from mid-March onwards.
In March alone, onion arrivals are expected to be as as high as 40.68 lakh tonne (Metric Tonne) when compared with 28.44 lakh tonne in the year-ago period, as per the sources.
The arrival is anticipated to be higher at 86 lakh tonne in April compared to 61 lakh tonne in the year-ago, they added.
Exports of onion are expected to arrest sharp the fall in domestic prices and thereby protect the interest of growers, the sources said.
During the meeting, the sources said import of pulses, especially urad, was also discussed.