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