Onions: Ahead of LS polls, India bans the bulb’s export until March 2024
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: The humble onion, whose higher prices have affected election results in the past, is back in the headlines.
Some months ago, the onion prices had sky-rocketed multiple times and the government had to arrange for their marketing through its channels in different places to cool down the prices.
Now, ahead of the May 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the NDA Government has banned the export of onions until March 2024 to ensure easy availability in the country and curb inflation, the media reported on Friday.
The Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) issued a notification to this effect on Thursday, stating the export policy of onions has been amended from ‘Free’ to ‘Prohibited.’
While the ban came into effect on Friday, the export of onions will be allowed in cases where contracts had already been signed and the process of onion export/ loading of ships, etc, had commenced before this notification. The export of onions will also be allowed as per the permission granted by the Government of India to other countries based on the request of their respective governments.
The all-India daily average price of onion was recorded at Rs 57.11 per kg on Thursday, which is 97.95 percent higher as compared to a year ago.
On Thursday, the Centre asked all sugar mills and distilleries not to use sugar cane juice or sugar syrup for ethanol production with immediate effect in ethanol supply year (ESY) 2023-24 (November-December).
Earlier, the government had banned the export of wheat and non-basmati white rice.
