India has allowed the export of 99,150 tonnes of onion to six countries including Bangladesh despite the ban on shipments, an official statement of the Indian Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said on Saturday.
The five other neighbouring countries are - the UAE, Bhutan, Bahrain, Mauritius, and Sri Lanka.
Indian government has imposed ban on onion export on December 8, 2023 to ensure adequate domestic availability against the backdrop of estimated lower Kharif and Rabi crops production in 2023-24 as compared to the previous year.
Following the ban, the onion prices in Bangladesh shot up and turned the market volatile causing suffering to the consumers.
The statement said that the quotas allocated for export to the six countries are being supplied as per requisition made by the destination country.
The National Cooperative Exports Limited, the agency for the export of onions to these countries, sourced the domestic onions to be exported through e-platform at L1 prices.
The NCEL supplied to the agency or agencies nominated by the government of the destination country at the negotiated rate on 100 per cent advance payment basis, it added.
The offer rate of NCEL to the buyers takes into account the prevailing prices in the destination market and also international and domestic markets.
As the largest producer of onion in the country, Maharashtra is the major supplier of onions sourced by NCEL for export.
Besides, India had also allowed the export of 2000 MT of white onion cultivated specially for export markets in Middle-East and some European countries.
Being purely export-oriented, the production cost of the white onion is higher than other onions due to higher seed cost, adoption of good agricultural practices, and compliance to strict maximum residue limits requirements.