Apr-Dec onion exports fall 10%

The country’s onion exports declined by 10 per cent to 6.95 lakh tonnes during April-December period of the ongoing fiscal due to restrictions on outbound shipments.

However, exports rose by 44 per cent in value terms to Rs 1,961.60 crore in the first nine months of financial year 2015-16 on higher realisation, according to the data compiled by National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF). Onion exports stood at 6,95,231.32 tonnes during the nine-month period as against 7,76,291.13 tonnes in the corresponding period of the last financial year, according to the data.

The exports dipped in the volume terms as the government had hiked the minimum export price (MEP) to $425 per tonne in June and then to $700 per tonne in August last after prices skyrocketed on lower output due to unseasonal rains.

The government had on December 25, 2015 scrapped the onion MEP to push exports as domestic prices crashed. MEP is the rate below which no trader is allowed to export. In value terms, however, the exports increased to Rs 1,961,60 crore in the first nine months of this fiscal from Rs 1,364.76 crore in the corresponding period of 2014-15 fiscal due to higher sales realisation, the data showed.

The average price realisation stood at Rs 28,215.12 per tonne so far this fiscal as against Rs 18,506.56 per tonne achieved in the entire 2014-15. 

India had exported 10,86,071.85 tonnes of onion for Rs 2,009.94 crore in the full 2014-15 financial year.