Onion crisis: Government puts curbs on exports, looks for import

With onion prices soaring to Rs 80 per kg in the major cities, the government has taken steps to boost supplies of the commodity by importing them and curbing their exports.

Fearing that prices of the politically sensitive commodity could get out of hand, the government asked cooperative major NAFED to import onions from Pakistan and Iran, according to an official statement.

The government also imposed a minimum export price (MEP) of $650 per tonne of onions, according to sources.

The MEP had been scrapped in May 2012. Onions are being sold at Rs 70-80 per kg in retail markets in the national capital, Kolkata, Patna and Chandigrah. In Chennai and Mumbai, the price range is Rs 60-70 per kg.

To ease Delhi's prices, where assembly elections are due in November, it asked NAFED to buy 4-5 tonnes of onions a day from Rajasthan to sell through its outlets and mobile vans.

In other parts of the country, NAFED has been asked to procure onions at best prevailing rates from the mandis of Lasalgaon/Pimpalgaon in Nasik district in Maharashtra and offer them to state marketing and supply federations at a nominal service charge of 2 per cent.

India exported 6.39 lakh tonnes of onions during April-July of the current financial year compared with 6.94 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period. Production in 2012-13 stood at 16.6 million tonnes.

In the wholesale market of Lasalgaon, Asia's largest onion mandi, prices rose by Re 1 to Rs 46 per kg, while at Azadpur mandi in Delhi, rates increased by Rs 5 to Rs 50-55 per kg.