The government today decided to suspend onion exports till January 15 following skyrocketing prices at around Rs60-70 a kilo due to 'hoarding and speculation'.
The government today decided to suspend onion exports till January 15 following skyrocketing prices at around Rs60-70 a kilo due to 'hoarding and speculation'.
Agriculture cooperative major National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED), which along with 12 other agencies regulates onion exports, have been asked to stop giving fresh clearance to exporters from tomorrow morning till January 15 next year.
"There will be voluntarily suspension of issuance of No Objection Certificates (NOCs) by NAFED, NCCF and other STEs for exports", an official statement said.
It said NAFED and NCCF (National Consumer Cooperative Federation ) will sell onion at cheaper rates from tomorrow through their retail outlets.
The government has more than doubled minimum export price (MEP) to US$1,200 per tonne from US$525 for exporters who have already got no objection certificates (NOC).
"The NOCs which have already been issued till today will be effected only on US$1200 per tonne cost and freight," the statement added.
Asked about the reasons for the sharp rise in onion prices, commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said: "price rise is because of hoarding. There is enough stock of onion in the country".
Stating that MEP has been raised substantially, Sharma said: "We will make it (exports) prohibitive till the domestic situation improves".
However, traders in Delhi's main wholesale market at Azadpur said the rise in prices were due to shortage of supply from the main producing regions.
Onion prices have soared to Rs60-70 per kg in the retail markets in Delhi and many other important cities of the country from Rs35-40 a couple of days ago.
The decision to suspend exports was taken at an emergency meet of the price fixation advisory committee for fixing MEP.
The meeting was chaired by NAFED managing director Sanjeev Chopra and attended by representatives from ministries of Agriculture, consumer affairs and commerce.
Chopra accompanied by secretary agriculture PK Basu later briefed agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on the matter.
A senior government official said members were "baffled" over the "unprecedented" rise in prices of onion since Saturday and doubted speculative forces behind it.
"The damage to the crop due to unseasonal rains in bulk producing states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Southern states would not have been more than 15-20%.
The unprecedented rise in onion prices in past three days in Delhi and other cities are not understandable," the official said.
The official said that NAFED and National Consumer Co-operative Federation (NCCF) will sell onion at subsidized rate in between Rs35-40 from tomorrow to provide succour to common man from the scathing onion prices.
According to the Agri ministry estimates, the total production of onion in 2010 is about 5 million tonnes, up from 4.87 million tonnes last year.
India has exported 11.5 lakh tonnes of onion in April to November period this year as compared to 18.73 lakh tonnes in the entire 2009-10 fiscal. India exports onion mainly to gulf countries, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Traders at Delhi-based Azadpur market (Asia's biggest wholesale fruits & vegetables market) attributed the phenomenon to supply crunch due to unseasonal rains in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Southern states, which are the bulk producers of the vital produce.
"Supply of onion has dipped almost by 50% in the Azadpur market," General Secretary of Chamber of Azadpur Fruit & Vegetables, Rajendra Sharma, told PTI.
Only 80 tempos (each one carrying 9 tonnes) and 20 trucks (each truck carrying 15 tonnes) arrived in the Azadpur market today from Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat, Sharma said.
Concerned over sudden increase in onion prices, Delhi government today said it was considering opening of special outlets to sell the vegetable at wholesale rates.
Food and cvil spplies scretary Jayashree Raghuraman held a meeting with top officials of the department and asked them to get in touch with traders in Maharashtra from where the city gets most of its onion supply.
The scenario is no better in other cities. In Kolkata, good quality onion is sold at a retail price of Rs60 a kg. Prices at Patna and Bhubneswar range between Rs40-50 a kg. In Chennai, onion costs between Rs40-60 a kg while it rocketed to Rs60 a kg in Chandigarh.
Meanwhile, amid soaring onion prices in the country, some Punjab traders today imported 13 truck loads (5 to 15 tonne per truck) of onion from Pakistan through Attari-Wagah land route to supply it in markets of the state.
"Traders have imported onion from Lahore in Pakistan today in order to supply in markets of Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar in Punjab and Delhi," a senior Customs department official at Amritsar told PTI.
According to the importers, it is for the first time this year that onions are being imported from Pakistan.
"We rather (this year) exported onion to Pakistan in the month of March and April...it is for the first time, we are importing from them (Pakistan)," office bearer of Amritsar export association Rajdeep Uppal said.
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