India bans onion exports till Mar '24; Maharashtra farmers launch protest

The Centre notified banned exports of onion till March next year with a view to increasing domestic availability and keeping prices in check, triggering instant protests by farmers in Maharashtra.

"Export policy of onions ... is amended from free to prohibited till March 31, 2024," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in its notification. Local vendors in the national capital are selling onions at Rs 70-Rs 80 per kg. The Centre had in October decided to step up the sale of buffer onion stock at a subsidised rate of Rs 25 per kg in retail markets in order to provide relief to consumers.

The government has earlier taken several steps to control prices. It had imposed a minimum export price (MEP) of USD 800 per tonne on onion exports on October 28 till December 31 this year. In August, India had imposed a 40 per cent export duty on onions up to December 31. However, the exports of onion will be allowed on the basis of permission granted by the government to other countries based on their request, the DGFT stated, adding that shipments of onion, whose loading had commenced before this notification, are allowed to be exported.

In cases where shipping bill is filed and vessels have already berthed and anchored in Indian ports for loading of onion and their rotation number has been allocated before this notification, that shipment is also allowed for exports.

Exports of onion are also permitted if "consignments of onion has been handed over to the customs before this notification and is registered in their system/ where onions consignment has entered the customs station for exportation before this notification and is registered in the electronic systems of the concerned custodian of the customs station with verifiable evidence of date and time stamping of these commodities having entered the station prior to December 8".

The period of exports for such consignments shall be up to January 5 next year. Between April 1 and August 4 this fiscal, 9.75 lakh tonnes of onions have been exported from the country. The top three importing countries in value terms are Bangladesh, Malaysia and the UAE.

Prices of onion, a politically-sensitive commodity, have started inching up amid reports of lag in onion coverage in the ongoing kharif season. As per WPI data released on November 14, while inflation in vegetables and potatoes cooled to (-) 21.04 per cent and (-) 29.27 per cent respectively, the annual rate of price rise in onion continued to rule high at 62.60 per cent in October.

Meanwhile, hundreds of onion farmers blocked the Mumbai Agra Highway at three places in Maharashtra's Nashik district on Friday after the Centre announced a ban on the export of the kitchen staple. Protests have been held at onion markets of Lasalgaon, Nandgaon, Pimpalgaon and Umarane in Nashik district for the last four to five days, an official said. Operations were shut at these markets on Friday as a part of the protest. Farmers also staged rasta rokos at Jaikheda, Chandwad, Umarane, Nandgaon and Mungse in Malegaon, but dispersed peacefully after appeals by the Nashik police.

Anil Ghanwat, former president of Shetkari Sangathan and current president of Swatantra Bharat Party, told Rural Voice, “This step of the government is not only harmful for the farmers but also for the onion traders. Onion farmers have been incurring losses for the last three-four years. In the last Rabi season also, onion farmers suffered losses due to unseasonal rains and production was affected.

"When farmers started getting good prices for onions in the market, the government first imposed 40 percent export duty and then reduced the minimum export price to $800 per ton. Now that the new Kharif crop has started arriving, its export has been banned. Due to this, the possibility of farmers getting better prices has been eliminated.”

He said that due to these restrictions on exports, India is also losing its share in the export market. Its impact will continue for the next few years due to which farmers will continue to be affected further. The government's entire focus is only on consumers, it is not worried about farmers. He has demanded the government to withdraw this decision.