New Delhi: With domestic supplies of onion improving and wholesale prices crashing, the government on Wednesday allowed even private entities to export the commodity.
Hitherto, only state-owned agencies like STC, PEC and MMTC were allowed to export onions. “Export of onion has been made free,” Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification.
Private entities are allowed to export all varieties of the commodity, including Bangalore Rose and Krishnapuram varieties,
DGFT said. The move follows the Centre earlier doing away with the minimum export price (MEP) to boost exports.
With wholesale prices crashing, growers have been complaining about lower realization.
The government had imposed MEP in September 2013 amid retail prices touching Rs.100 a kg in major parts of the country. The MEP was raised several times to curb exports and boost domestic supplies.
Onion was even imported to control prices. It may be noted that exports of the commodity in January fell marginally to 0.12 million tonnes due to lower export value realization. During the April-January period of 2013-14, exports have declined by 28% to 1.108 million tonnes. India exported 1.82 million tonnes of onion during the entire 2012-13 fiscal.
Source : livemint.com