Ban on onion export may bring down prices

MUMBAI, Jan 12: Spiralling prices of onion, which have touched an all-time high of Rs 24 per kg, are likely to fall in the next three or fou...

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MUMBAI, Jan 12: Spiralling prices of onion, which have touched an all-time high of Rs 24 per kg, are likely to fall in the next three or four days following the Centre’s decision to ban its export with immediate effect.

Following a strong protest lodged by the Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party government, the centre today asked the National Agriculture Federation to stop exporting onions to tackle the scarcity in Maharashtra.

The centre’s decision was communicated to Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, said Shiv Sena leader Kanhaiyalal Gidwani.

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Last year, an estimated one lakh tonnes of onion from Nasik, Ahmednagar and Dhule districts of Maharashtra were exported to Singapore, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. The Maharashtra Government has now taken the view that if the export of onions is stopped, it will help ease the situation in the local market. At his weekly media briefing, Joshi blamed the centre for the crisis. However, later, he said that he would personally take up the issue with the Prime Minister and the Union Agriculture Minister.

What shocked Sena leaders was that despite the acute shortage of onions in the domestic markets, the National Agriculture Federation had not stopped issuing export orders. “It was the responsibility of the federation to first fulfill the domestic demand and the requirement of the local population and then cater to the demands of foreign countries. The federation should have stopped export and restrained itself from issuing fresh permissions,” Gidwani pointed out. On an average, the prices of onion vary between Rs six and Rs 10 per kg depending upon the quality. However, prices shot up to Rs 24 per kg last month as 70 per cent of the onion crop was completely damaged following unseasonal rains in Nasik and Ahmednagar.