On Sunday, the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry imposed a ban on onion exports. The director-general of foreign trade has issued a notification banning onion exports immediately. TOI is in possession of a copy of the notification.
On September 13, the government had imposed $850/tonne Minimum Export Price (MEP) on onions in a bid to stabilise the supply, following a rise in the average wholesale prices because of the scarcity of onions.
Earlier, there was zero MEP on onions. MEP is the price below which traders are not allowed to export onions.
"However, exporters have continued to export onions even after the higher MEP. Onion export was around 24,000 tonnes a week following the imposition of the MEP. Considering the rise in onion prices in the wholesale and retail markets, there was need to stop the export. The government had failed to curb onion export despite the imposition of higher MEP," said the sources from the ministry of commerce.
"Hence, steps were taken to ban exports with immediate effect from Sunday." the sources added.
According to APMC sources, there may be a drop by around Rs 500/100 kgs just one or two days after the wholesale market reopens.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
