Onion exports slip by 24%

New Delhi: The country's onion exports have come down by 24% to about 821,000 tonnes in the current financial year till February 16, Minister of State for Agriculture Kanti Lal Bhuria informed the Lok Sabha on March 10. Onion production was estimated to decline by 17.6 per cent in 2006-07 at 7.2 million tonnes from 8.7 million tonnes in the previous year. According to the source, the movement of monthly Index for Wholesale Prices (WPI) for onion went up from 114.6 in March 2006 to 322.8 in November 2007, but subsequently fell to 169.4 on February 16, 2008. In order to stabilise the onion prices, the minister said the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED) had reduced the minimum export price (MEP) and started the commercial purchase in Nasik from February 1, 2008.