The Centre has further slashed the minimum export price for onions to $150 a tonne from the prevailing $350 a tonne to facilitate more shipments abroad.
Third instance The latest reduction in the floor price is the third in as many weeks. The floor price for export has been reduced from $800 since December 10.
The move follows a sharp decline in prices of the vegetable in the key growing regions of Maharashtra, where realisations by growers have slumped by about 50 per cent over the past four weeks.
The Government will make appropriate interventions in future as and when required to balance the interests of farmers and consumers, an official statement said.
modal prices The modal price or the rate at which most trades took place in onion in Maharashtra’s Lasalgaon Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee yard, Asia’s biggest for the bulb, hovered around Rs 1,800 a quintal in early December. Currently, prices are ruling around Rs 900.
In early November, the modal price was ruling at a high of Rs 4,900.
Similarly in Pimpalgaon, another significant market, the modal price for onions is hovering around Rs 950 against Rs 4,500 in early November and Rs 1,750 in early December.
This sharp decline in prices forced farmers to stage protests in Maharashtra and Karnataka.
On December 10, the Government reduced the floor price on onions to $800 in line with the softening trend in prices after arrivals picked up with the progress of harvesting in the key producing regions of Maharashtra and Karnataka.
The Government believes a further reduction in the floor price will not only help in arresting the sharp decline in prices realised by farmers, but also make onion exports more competitive.
Onion prices have been on a roller coaster since July this year, with the depletion in stocks of stored produce in Maharashtra and excess rains affecting harvest in Karnataka disrupting supplies.
Prices reached a high of Rs 100 a kg in various retail markets in Delhi and other major cities, forcing the Government to resort to imports from countries such as Egypt, China and Pakistan.
Prices continued to rule high through August-November on account of untimely rains, supply constraints, less than expected production and speculative hoarding activities by unscrupulous traders leading to a spike in food inflation.
The Government had imposed a floor price of $650 on August 14 and had hiked it to $900 on September 19 and further to $1,150 on November 1 to augment domestic supplies and curb any further rise in prices.