Onion export ban to be lifted on March 15, says Piyush Goyal

The government would lift the ban on onion exports on March 15, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said in a tweet on Monday.

The decision to resume onion exports, which were banned since September last year, was taken at a meeting of the Group of Ministers constituted under the chairmanship of Home Minister Amit Shah.

The lifting of export ban will help farmers get better prices for their rabi onions, which are expected to arrive in the market in huge quantities this month. According to news reports, the expected quantum of onions in March and April are 41 lakh tonnes and 86 lakh tonnes, respectively, against 28 lakh tonnes and 61 lakh tonnes in the same months last year. The Centre imposed the ban last year as retail prices spiked due to the poor kharif crop in the wake of heavy rain and floods in onion-growing areas.

Farmers in several parts of Nashik district in Maharashtra agitated on Monday over falling onion prices, with an official informing that the average price per quintal for Monday was ₹1,450 at Lasalgaon, the country’s largest market.

Onion prices increased by ₹300 per quintal on an average at Lasalgaon APMC after reports came in, on February 27, that a ban on its exports had been lifted by the Centre, officials said, but the notification on lifting of the export ban is yet to arrive.

The pepper farming community has voiced concerns over the presence of Brazilian pepper in India. It is reported that markets in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi and Maharasthra are getting Brazilian pepper for re-export at ₹340 per kg plus GST paid and freight delivered at the buyers’ doorsteps.

The price of Indian pepper works out to around ₹360 per kg. Traders claim Brazilian pepper has 600 gm/litre bulk density.

It is estimated that over 600 tonnes of Brazilian pepper were imported into the country during December and January.

Meanwhile, pepper prices in Kochi were down ₹1 per kg with limited sellers from Kerala. The arrivals in the market were lower at 13 tonnes. However, traders expect arrivals to pick up in the coming days, mainly from Wayanad and Karnataka, to be followed by Tamil Nadu.