The central government is not likely to remove the 40% export duty on onions imposed last month as onion prices in the domestic markets have almost doubled in the last one month, said trade sources who met commerce minister Piyush Goyal in the capital on Tuesday.”The government is in the mood to observe the movement of onion prices for a couple more weeks before it takes any decision on the export duty,” said an onion trader, who requested not to be identified.The average rate of onions at the benchmark Lasalgaon APMC was Rs 28/kg on Tuesday, up 40% during the last 15 days and double of what it was exactly a month ago.Imposition of export duty on onions during the election period in May had angered the onion farmers from Maharashtra. They were expecting that the central government would remove the export duty after the elections were over.The rising onion prices in the private trade have slowed down the pace of government’s onion procurement operations to create a strategic reserve under the Price Stabilisation Fund. If onion prices rise further, it will become challenging for the government to get onions for buffer stock. The Department of Consumer Affairs has increased the procurement price of onions to Rs 25.55/kg on Tuesday, up from Rs 21/kg in the previous week.Although onion farmers are happy with the current rise in onion prices, Bharat Dighole, president, Maharashtra Onion Growers’ Association, has advised onion farmers to sell onions gradually from their stocks.”The farmers should not sell onions to the government agencies Nafed and NCCF below Rs 40/kg. The central government plans to utilise the buffer stock to suppress the onion prices in future,” said Dighole in a video message shared with the farmers.Traders expect prices to stay firm during the next few days. “We can expect softening in prices if we get heavy rainfall consistently for a few days as farmers tend to get their stocks to the markets to prevent the rotting damage,” said another trader, who did not want to be identified.India’s onion exports stood at 25 lakh tonnes in 2022-23 and 17 lakh tonnes in 2023-24 fiscal, when various restrictions were imposed on exports. In 2024, exports from April are expected to be just about 1 lakh tonnes.
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