IANS | 05 May, 2024
The Government on Saturday lifted the ban on onion exports after
about half a year, according to a notification from the Directorate
General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).
"The export policy of onions is
amended from “prohibited to free” subject to a minimum export price of
$550 per metric ton with immediate effect and until further orders," the
DGFT notification states.
The move forms part of the government’s
balancing act to assure farmers a higher price as well as keep
inflation in check so that consumers are not hit.
On April 27, the
Government allowed the export of 99,150 metric tonnes of onion to six
neighbouring countries -- Bangladesh, UAE, Bhutan, Bahrain, Mauritius
and Sri Lanka.
On December 8, 2023, the government banned the
export of onions from March 31 this year. The ban was imposed to ensure
adequate domestic availability and keep prices in check as the outputs
of both the Kharif and Rabi crops in 2023-24 are estimated to be lower
as compared to the previous year and demand has increased in the
international market.
The National Cooperative Exports Limited
(NCEL), the agency for export of onion to these countries, sourced the
domestic onions to be exported through e-platform at L1 prices and
supplied to the agencies nominated by the government of the destination
country at the negotiated rate on 100 per cent advance payment basis,
according to the Food Ministry.
The offer rate of NCEL to the
buyers takes into account the prevailing prices in the destination
market and also international and domestic markets. The quotas allocated
for export to the six countries are being supplied as per requisition
made by these destination countries.
As the largest producer of onion in the country, Maharashtra is the major supplier of onions sourced by NCEL for export.
The
Government had also allowed the export of 2000 metric tonnes (MT) of
white onion cultivated especially for export markets in the Middle East
and some European countries. Being purely export-oriented, the
production cost of the white onion is higher than other onions due to
higher seed cost, adoption of good agricultural practice (GAP) and
compliance with strict maximum residue limits (MRL) requirements.
The
procurement target for onion buffer out of Rabi-2024 under the Price
Stabilisation Fund (PSF) of the Department of Consumer Affairs has been
fixed at 5 lakh tons this year. Central agencies NCCF and NAFED are
tying up local agencies such as FPOs/FPCs/PACs to support the
procurement, storage and farmers’ registration to begin the procurement
of any store-worthy onion. A high-level team of the Department of
Consumer Affairs, NCCF and NAFED visited Nashik and Ahmednagar districts
of Maharashtra from April 11-13, 2024 to create awareness among the
farmers, FPOs/FPCs and PACs about the procurement of 5 LMT of onion for
PSF buffer.
In order to reduce the storage loss of onions, the
Department of Consumer Affairs decided to enhance the quantum of stocks
to be irradiated and cold stored from 1200 MT last year to over 5000 MT
this year, with technical support from BARC, Mumbai. The pilot of onion
irradiation and cold storage taken up last year has been found to have
resulted in the reduction of storage loss to less than 10 per cent.