After the sky-high price, onion again comes into controversy after Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan claimed on Thursday that onion prices have started cooling down in both retail and wholesale markets as centre decides to ban onion exports and imposition of stock limits on traders.
Shetkari Sanghatana, an apex farmers’ body in Maharashtra announced that all onion markets would be indefinitely closed from October 7 if the Centre failed to rethink its decision to ban onion exports and imposition of stock limits on traders.
As per a report, retail onion prices, which were ruling at ₹60-70 per kg for the past few weeks in the national capital and some other parts of the country, declined to below ₹60 per kg on Thursday, per trade data.
The food and consumer affairs minister told in front of media, “We have to take care of the interest of both farmers and consumers. Prices of onion have started declining after we banned export and imposed stock limits of 100 quintals on retailers and 500 quintals on wholesale traders.”
Out of the central buffer stock of 56,000 tonnes of onion, 18,000 tonnes have been disposed of and about 15,000 tonnes have dried owing to moisture loss, he said. “We still have 25,000 tonnes of onion in our stock. We are asking State governments to take (from the stock) and supply at ₹23.90 per kg in their States and ensure prices are stable,” Paswan added.
“The Centre’s decision has landed onion farmers and traders into major trouble. The decision will disturb the onion distribution cycle. The government has stopped onion consignments. India might lose international onion market because of inconsistent policies” said Anil Ghanwat, President of Shethkari Sanghatana, speaking to media.
He stressed that farmers may suffer from huge loss due to government’s decision.He said that because of the government’s decision, the price of onion, which had climbed to ₹50 per kg, has come down to ₹25 per kg and farmers are suffering losses.
