On Monday, the government banned the export of onions, anticipating a deficit in the key cooking ingredient, as exports soared 30% in the April-July period.
Exports of all varieties of onions are banned with immediate effect, the Directorate General for Foreign Trade said in a notification. “The provisions of the Transitional Agreement will not be applicable by virtue of this notification,” he said.
India exported $ 328 million worth of fresh onions and $ 112.3 million worth of dried onions in fiscal year 2020. Onion exports soared 158% to Bangladesh in the April-July period.
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The ban comes at a time when the wholesale and retail price of onions in August fell 35% and 4%, respectively. In Delhi, the retail price of onions stood at ₹40 per kg.
The restriction on onion exports has become an annual affair.
On September 29 last year, the government banned onion exports and imposed stock limits across the country to lower onion prices that had skyrocketed before state elections in Maharashtra and Haryana. The crackdown followed retail onion prices ₹80 per kg in Delhi due to supply disruptions after floods in some states.
In December, prices hit ₹160 per kg in certain parts of the country.
Five months after the ban, the government lifted the restrictions as of March 15 of this year, since the shortage in the onion supply due to excess rain and the floods that hit the kharif crop passed with the arrival of the harvest of rabi.
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