FTP - Export Policy - Onions - Steep cut in MEP
GOVERNMENT has amended para 2 of Notification No.03(RE-2012)/2009-14 dated 29.06.2012 read with Notification No.57 (RE-2013)/2009-14 dated 16.12.2013 with immediate effect.
Export of onion for the item description at Serial Number 51 & 52 of Schedule 2 of ITC(HS) Classification of Export & Import Items will now be subject to a Minimum Export Price (MEP) of US$ 350 per MT.
It was USD 800 per MT three days back and 1150 USD per MT in September.
Now, this is a steep cut. It is reported that this reduction is aimed at encouraging exports amidst a crash in wholesale prices leading to protest by farmers in producing states
At Lasalgaon APMC (in Nashik, Maharashtra) - the country's largest wholesale onion market, the wholesale price of onion has fallen to as low as Rs.700 per quintal. Even though retail price is still higher, the sudden price crash has angered and shocked the farmers. They are now getting a mere Rs.7 per kilo of onion. Nashik onion farmers are protesting the fall in onion prices and also staging a rastaroko on the Mumbai-Agra national highway.
The onion prices first recorded an all-time high of Rs.4,300 a quintal on August 12 and continued to spiral over the next two months, touching a record rate of Rs.5,600 per quintal on October 18. The earlier all-time high of Rs.3,200 a quintal was recorded in 1998, when onions became one of the factors for the BJP's debacle in assembly polls.
DGFT Notification No. 59 (RE-2013)/2009-2014, Dated: December 19, 2013