The government intervention of procuring kharif onion and disposing them of simultaneously have brought down average retail prices by 30% and wholesale prices by 35% in the past one month. Considering the trend of decline in prices and the short shelf life of the summer crop, the government may look at the option of lifting the export ban in a calibrated manner, officials said.
Sources in the onion trade said that they have been informed by government functionaries that the Centre would allow export by government cooperatives. “The government should not have a quota system. They must have an open policy for export of onions like other commodities. We are waiting for the notification,” Jaydyutt Holkar, director at Mumbai APMC, said.
So far, central agencies have procured around 25,000 tonnes of kharif onion from farmers and these have been disposed of simultaneously since these can’t be stored. Officials said the ban on export and market interventions have brought the desired result as average retail prices have dropped to Rs 39 per kg this week compared to Rs 59 a month back. Similarly, the average wholesale prices have also fallen from Rs 4,885 a quintal to Rs 3,137 in the past one month.
Traders said that in the last few days, the arrival of fresh kharif onions has increased to 15,000 quintals per day and this needs to be used quickly and export of certain quantities would be a good proposal since now the availability has increased.
Bangladesh, Malaysia and Nepal are the main importers of Indian onions. Allowing calibrated exports will also ensure no further fall in prices and ensure farmers get good remuneration.
Meanwhile, officials said the government will continue its intervention to keep prices under check. The government has authorised Nafed and NCCF to procure 7 lakh tonne during this fiscal year of which so far 5.3 lakh tonne of onion has been procured. “So, we can still continue procuring up to 1.7 lakh tonne of both kharif and late kharif onion for market intervention,” said an official.