Govt cuts down minimum export price of onions by 43%
Taking note of the arrival of fresh crops in the market, the government on Thursday cut down the minimum export price (MEP) of onions to $400 per tonne from $700 per tonne. “On Onion - decision taken today to reduce the Minimum Export Price (MEP) of onion from $700 MT to $ 400 MT,” Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a tweet. The decision came after a meeting held between Finance Minister Arun Jaitely, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and the Commerce Minister. Sitharamn also announced that an Inter Ministerial Group (IMG) would review the arrivals of onions in Mandis and their prices every two weeks. “Detailed periodic assessments will be kept up,” she said. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis hailed the decision on Twitter, saying, “It'll give huge relief, protect interest of farmers & encourage export.” Earlier this week, the Maharashtra government had asked the government to reduce the MEP for onions to help increase its overseas shipments. MEP is the rate fixed by the government, below which traders are not allowed to export. An increase in MEP restricts exports and improves domestic supply. Recently, the government had to increase the MEP to streamline the onion supply in the domestic market after the prices had skyrocketed due to shortage of supply. Now the prices have gone down even below the production cost in some parts of the country because of a sharp increase in its arrivals and weak export demand.
December 11, 2015 | 01:00pm IST
to success.