Staff Reporter :
India has once again raised the Minimum Export Price (MEP) for onions by 67 per cent to maintain price stability in domestic market.
Exports will now be possible only at or above $500 per metric tonne. The Indian government on June 17 set the minimum price at $300 per metric tonne, according to a government statement.
Until early March, the MEP was US$150 per metric tonne.
“The Inter-Ministerial Committee in their meeting held on June 30, 2014, observed that the wholesale and retail prices of onions are going up in producing and consuming. Despite the MEP at US$300 per metric tonne, there is no appreciable decline in the exports of onions,” Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in the statement.
Keeping in view the rising retail and wholesale prices and delayed monsoon, the committee has unanimously decided to fix the MEP at $500 per tonne, it added.
Meanwhile, traders in Dhaka, said,
the latest move of the Indian government would have adverse impact on local onion market as Bangladesh is used to import a large quantity of the Indian produce to meet the local consumption.
“Onion prices have continued to rise on back of increased consumption during the Ramzan. In this moment, a rise in MEP by the Indian government could create further price volatility of onion in local market,” said a business leader at the city’s Shyambazar wholesale onion market.
Prior to the latest hike, India in mid-June doubled the MEP to $300 a tonne that contributed to sudden hike in onion prices in local markets, he added.
According to sources, the annual domestic demand for onion is 2.2 million tonnes. The country produced 1.35 million tonnes in the last season and the rest was imported mainly from India, the second largest producers of onions in the world after China.
Prices of onion both local and imported have already increased Tk 6 to Tk 8 per kg in the city’s kitchen market with the advent of Ramzan with wholesalers are blaming for recent rise in MEP by the Indian government.
On Wednesday, retailers were selling locally produced onions at Tk 42 to Tk 45 per kg while imported Indian onion at Tk 40 to Tk 42.
Onion imports went up 76 per cent in the first 10 months of the outgoing fiscal year and onion worth $153 million was imported, according to the LC settlement statistics of Bangladesh Bank.
Besides, LCs for importing onion increased by 78 per cent and LCs worth $165 million were opened for importing spices, which are in high demand for preparing Iftar items during Ramzan.
Onion prices in India have also risen 40 per cent in the last two weeks to Rs. 18.50 per kg at the country’s largest wholesale market in Lasalgaon, Nashik. In Delhi’s wholesale market, Azadpur, the prices are ruling at about Rs. 20-25 per kg.
The rise in prices is partly due to hoarding as there are speculations that a weak monsoon would affect the kharif crops, reports Indian media.
India produces around 17 to 18 million tonnes of onions a year and consumes about 15 million tonnes per annum.
During the last fiscal year, India exported 1.358 million tonnes of onions against 1.822 million tonnes in the previous year.
India has once again raised the Minimum Export Price (MEP) for onions by 67 per cent to maintain price stability in domestic market.
Exports will now be possible only at or above $500 per metric tonne. The Indian government on June 17 set the minimum price at $300 per metric tonne, according to a government statement.
Until early March, the MEP was US$150 per metric tonne.
“The Inter-Ministerial Committee in their meeting held on June 30, 2014, observed that the wholesale and retail prices of onions are going up in producing and consuming. Despite the MEP at US$300 per metric tonne, there is no appreciable decline in the exports of onions,” Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in the statement.
Keeping in view the rising retail and wholesale prices and delayed monsoon, the committee has unanimously decided to fix the MEP at $500 per tonne, it added.
Meanwhile, traders in Dhaka, said,
the latest move of the Indian government would have adverse impact on local onion market as Bangladesh is used to import a large quantity of the Indian produce to meet the local consumption.
“Onion prices have continued to rise on back of increased consumption during the Ramzan. In this moment, a rise in MEP by the Indian government could create further price volatility of onion in local market,” said a business leader at the city’s Shyambazar wholesale onion market.
Prior to the latest hike, India in mid-June doubled the MEP to $300 a tonne that contributed to sudden hike in onion prices in local markets, he added.
According to sources, the annual domestic demand for onion is 2.2 million tonnes. The country produced 1.35 million tonnes in the last season and the rest was imported mainly from India, the second largest producers of onions in the world after China.
Prices of onion both local and imported have already increased Tk 6 to Tk 8 per kg in the city’s kitchen market with the advent of Ramzan with wholesalers are blaming for recent rise in MEP by the Indian government.
On Wednesday, retailers were selling locally produced onions at Tk 42 to Tk 45 per kg while imported Indian onion at Tk 40 to Tk 42.
Onion imports went up 76 per cent in the first 10 months of the outgoing fiscal year and onion worth $153 million was imported, according to the LC settlement statistics of Bangladesh Bank.
Besides, LCs for importing onion increased by 78 per cent and LCs worth $165 million were opened for importing spices, which are in high demand for preparing Iftar items during Ramzan.
Onion prices in India have also risen 40 per cent in the last two weeks to Rs. 18.50 per kg at the country’s largest wholesale market in Lasalgaon, Nashik. In Delhi’s wholesale market, Azadpur, the prices are ruling at about Rs. 20-25 per kg.
The rise in prices is partly due to hoarding as there are speculations that a weak monsoon would affect the kharif crops, reports Indian media.
India produces around 17 to 18 million tonnes of onions a year and consumes about 15 million tonnes per annum.
During the last fiscal year, India exported 1.358 million tonnes of onions against 1.822 million tonnes in the previous year.
