Onion and Indians, these two have a relationship where one getsout of reach of the other every few years. Onion is not only a staple vegetablein every Indian kitchen, and also an export item. The price of onion indomestic market sees a wide fluctuation and interventions by government oftendo not meet their objective and the price keeps going higher.
Another victim in the long list of COVID-19’ adverselyaffected industries is onion. The government has a tight balancing act toperform, especially when it comes to a commodity that is consumed by everyIndian on a daily basis.
In attempts to contain the rising prices, the government hadbegun with thwarting the exports with Minimum Export Price (MEP), stockinglimits on retailers and wholesalers. When these measures did not halt the pricerise, the exports were banned.
Now, the government is getting ready to cancel the ban onexports of onions. All varieties of onions in cut, sliced, granules, or inpowder form are being proposed to be permitted. The Directorate General of ForeignTrade (DGFT) has received a letter from Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food andPublic Distribution.
The letter recommends two qualities of onions, BangaloreRose and Krishnapuram. The quantities to be permitted for export are 10,000tons for each. Also, another recommendation is to export 150 tons of onions to Bhutanfor the next three months. Finally, state horticulture departments should beconsulted for the process. The port recommended is Chennai port.
As for the varieties recommended, these two varieties areexport-only with Bangalore Rose for Southeast Asian countries and Krishnapuramis for Thailand, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.