At the Lasalgaon mandi, Asia’s largest onion selling market, the onion price jumped Rs 1.50 a kg to Rs 32 a kg, the highest since January last year. On Monday, onion prices hit their highest level since January 2018, despite the government’s measures for boosting domestic supply.
The onion price has more than doubled in the last one month, after moving in a narrow range of Rs 9-Rs 13 a kg in the previous three months, and further below between Rs 4 and Rs 9 a kg since February. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), in a notification last Friday, had announced a minimum export price (MEP) for onion at $850 a ton.
Farmers are no longer demanding anything from the government. The current price is driven by market forces and the government must accept it. By levying a minimum export price (MEP) and allowing import, the government is promoting foreign farmers,” said Diliprao Shankarrao Bankar, chairman of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee.
Bangladesh will start selling onions to control prices
Meanwhile, the Trading Corporation of neighbour Bangladesh is set to start selling onions on Tuesday in an effort to offset the spiralling prices of the cooking ingredient in the market triggered by India's decision to curb exports. After India imposed an $850 per tonne minimum export price on onion on Sept 13, prices started to rise in Dhaka the next day.
TCB often sells essential products on trucks to keep their prices down.
[ Rs100 = €1.27 ]
