The Commerce Ministry has notified imposition of a minimum export price (MEP) of $650 per tonne on onion to curb shipments and control rising prices.
“Export of onion ... shall be permitted subject to a MEP of $650 per metric tonne FOB (free on board) or as notified by DGFT from time-to-time,” Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has said in a notification.
In May last year, the government had scrapped fixing MEP, which is a benchmark price below which onion cannot be exported.
Onion prices have soared to Rs 80 per kg in the major cities of the country.
India has exported 6.39 lakh tonnes during April-July period of this fiscal compared with 6.94 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period. Production stood at 16.6 million tonnes in 2012-13.
Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat are the main producing regions of the kitchen staple.