New Delhi (Paigam E Jagat) - Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh on Monday said the government expects the price of onions to come down to below Rs 40 per kg from the current average price of Rs 57.02 per kg by January. The government had last week banned the export of onions till March next year after the retail price of onions in the national capital crossed Rs 80 per kg and prices in mandis were close to Rs 60 per kg.
Asked if onion prices were expected to come down below Rs 40 per kg, Singh said very soon...January. Singh said on the sidelines of Deloitte Growth with Impact Government Summit that someone has said that it will reach Rs 100 per kg. It will never go above Rs 60 per kg.
The all India average was Rs 57.02 per kg this morning and will not exceed Rs 60 per kg. He said the export ban will not affect farmers and it is a small group of traders who are taking advantage of the price difference between Indian and Bangladesh markets. "They (traders who were taking advantage of price differentials) will suffer losses, but who will benefit... (they) are Indian consumers," the secretary said.
Consumer price index (CPI) inflation has been in double digits since July, reaching a four-year high of 42.1 percent in October. In this financial year, between April 1 and August 4, 9.75 lakh tonnes of onions were exported from the country. The top three importing countries in terms of value are Bangladesh, Malaysia and United Arab Emirates. The government has taken several steps to control prices. A minimum export price (MEP) of US $ 800 per tonne has been imposed on the export of onions from October 28 to December 31 this year.
In August, India had imposed 40 percent export duty on onions till December 31. In October, the wholesale inflation rate of vegetables came down to 21.04 percent. However, this month the annual price growth rate of onions remained at a high level of 62.60 percent.