Centre lifts onion export ban

As prices of onions came down in domestic markets, the Central government on Thursday decided to lift the ban on export of onions.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Food, headed by Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Significantly, Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, Food minister KV Thomas and Commerce minister Anand Sharma were not present at the meeting.

The ban on export of onions was put in December last year after its price in domestic markets reached Rs 80 per kg due to crop loss in the main onion producing belts.

As the government once again allowed its export, it also put into place certain checks.

The panel decided to allow shipments of onions at a Minimum Export Price (MEP) of $600 (about Rs. 28,000) per tonne.