Onion export prices raised to boost domestic supply

To control the spiralling onion prices the agriculture ministry on Monday announced a USD 150-per-ton-increase in the export prices to augment domestic supply.

?With this rise, the Minimum Export Price (MEP) for Gulf countries stands at USD 525 per ton for export during the remaining part of November 2010 as compared to USD 375 per tonne earlier,? a government release said.

The decision was taken by the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) after a meeting after a meeting on Monday.

Nafed announced that it will start procuring onions in bulk quantities from wholesale markets in the western region to ease nationwide distribution and also start retailing of onion at reasonable prices from its outlets in Delhi to provide relief to consumers.

In the past few days, crop damage due to continuous rain in growing areas as well as low quality of fresh stocks have shot upwards price of onions.

The cooperative body expects prices to fall in line temporarily before the the next crop start arriving from the late kharif (autumn) season.