Central government's big decision amid Lok Sabha elections, ban on export of onion lifted
Exports: In August last year, the Center partially banned the export of onion and increased its export duty to 40 percent till December 31, 2023.
The Central Government on Saturday lifted the ban on export of onion. Along with this, the government has set the minimum export price (MEP) at $ 500 per tonne. It is noteworthy that this decision of the Center has come at a time when elections are going on in the country and onion has proved to be a changing crop for political parties.
"The export policy of onion is being changed from restricted to free subject. Its minimum export price will be $550 per tonne with immediate effect till further orders," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade Affairs said in its notification.
In August of last year, the Centre raised the export duty to 40% until December 31, 2023, and partially prohibited the export of onions. Nevertheless, the government later outlawed the export of onions until March 31 of this year on December 8, 2023. The export prohibition was prolonged until further orders in March. The government had announced the imposition of a 40 percent duty on onion exports just the previous evening. Farmers of Maharashtra have been protesting the export ban.
The Agriculture Ministry released onion production figures in March. According to this, onion production in 2023-24 (first advance estimate) is expected to be around 254.73 lakh tonnes compared to last year's around 302.08 lakh tonnes. According to the data, production has decreased by 34.31 lakh tonnes in Maharashtra, 9.95 lakh tonnes in Karnataka, 3.54 lakh tonnes in Andhra Pradesh, and 3.12 lakh tonnes in Rajasthan.
