The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) has halted the issue of no objection certificates for the export of onions for the next fortnight. This means no new entities will be allowed to export onions for 15 days. The wholesale price of onions has risen by about 50% to Rs 23 a kg as on Monday.
Nafed, however, says this should not be interpreted as a blanket ban on onion exports. Alok Ranjan, MD, Nafed, said, ?This in no sense means an export ban on onions. We are only suspending NOCs for new shipments for onion export for the next 15 days. We will then monitor the trend.?
All existing export contracts would be honoured by Nafed, which is the nodal agency for onion exports.
Inflation was at a five-year low at 3.23 % for the week ended September 15. However, rising onion prices could have an adverse impact on populist sentiment, anathema for a government readying for a possible mid-term poll. Of the total onion produce of 66 lakh tonne, 11.61 lakh tonne was exported in 2006-07.