Made to shed onion tears, govt now hikes export price
5 Nov 2013 5:34 AM IST
The Centre on Monday hiked the minimum export price of (MEP) of onions to 1,150 dollar per tonne. The move, the government hopes, will help ensure domestic supplies and control its prices, which have been ruling at very high levels for about three months. The director general of foreign trade (DGFT) said in a notification that export of all varieties of onion will be subject to new MEP. On 19 September, the government had raised the MEP to 900 dollar per tonne from 650 dollar.
The move comes following the announcement last week by Delhi minister Raj Kumar Chauhan, who had claimed that prices of the vegetables including onions, will come down in the next seven days. However, mandi (vegetable wholesale market) sources say despite hiking the price, the export of onions committed earlier would remain same. ‘These are international commitment and the exporter would supply them at MEP prevailing at the time of making the commitment,’ sources said. Only fresh commitments will now be made on new prices.
The agriculture ministry has already said the spiral in onion prices which touched Rs 90 per kilo sometime back is because of ‘monopoly’ of wholesale traders and resultant large-scale hoarding of the vegetable. According to the ministry, the massive cartelisation is because of the non-amendment of the agriculture produce marketing committee (APMC) act, which could have prevented prices from being blown out of proportion.
The BJP, on its part, has squarely blamed the Delhi government for the ongoing price spiral. BJP’s chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Delhi assembly elections Harsh Vardhan has already pointed towards the inability of the Delhi government to acts against traders. Incidentally, the onion cartel (identified officially as traders’ association) in Delhi is controlled by Congress leaders.
The BJP, which was ousted from power in 1998, as then also the price of onions had made people shed tears, has in its campaign promised a food price commission to ensure complete transparency through the use of latest technology if the party was voted back to power in the city. Vardhan said he would ensure steps such as construction of godowns, farmer’s market and GPS in trucks to develop a ‘Delhi Model’ to contain price rise in the city, if voted to power. ‘The central and Delhi government were in deep slumber and ignored the warning signals of price rise issued by agriculture ministry and market experts and let the situation reach where it is today,’ he said.
The move comes following the announcement last week by Delhi minister Raj Kumar Chauhan, who had claimed that prices of the vegetables including onions, will come down in the next seven days. However, mandi (vegetable wholesale market) sources say despite hiking the price, the export of onions committed earlier would remain same. ‘These are international commitment and the exporter would supply them at MEP prevailing at the time of making the commitment,’ sources said. Only fresh commitments will now be made on new prices.
The agriculture ministry has already said the spiral in onion prices which touched Rs 90 per kilo sometime back is because of ‘monopoly’ of wholesale traders and resultant large-scale hoarding of the vegetable. According to the ministry, the massive cartelisation is because of the non-amendment of the agriculture produce marketing committee (APMC) act, which could have prevented prices from being blown out of proportion.
The BJP, on its part, has squarely blamed the Delhi government for the ongoing price spiral. BJP’s chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Delhi assembly elections Harsh Vardhan has already pointed towards the inability of the Delhi government to acts against traders. Incidentally, the onion cartel (identified officially as traders’ association) in Delhi is controlled by Congress leaders.
The BJP, which was ousted from power in 1998, as then also the price of onions had made people shed tears, has in its campaign promised a food price commission to ensure complete transparency through the use of latest technology if the party was voted back to power in the city. Vardhan said he would ensure steps such as construction of godowns, farmer’s market and GPS in trucks to develop a ‘Delhi Model’ to contain price rise in the city, if voted to power. ‘The central and Delhi government were in deep slumber and ignored the warning signals of price rise issued by agriculture ministry and market experts and let the situation reach where it is today,’ he said.
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