The Indian central government has removed the minimum export price (MEP) on onions, bringing relief to the onion farmers in the country. The Indian government imposed the MEP in November last year to keep the domestic market stable and the rising prices in check. In a notification issued by the Union Ministry of Commerce of India, Director General of Foreign Trade Alok Vardhan Chaturvedi said the MEP on all varieties of onions had been removed. “Now, the average wholesale onion prices have dropped to Rs1,500 [Tk1,941] per quintal. The fluctuating onion prices in the Indian market and the resulting MEP affected the onion prices in Bangladesh, too, which rose to nearly Tk100 in December last year due to the short supply of local production and the higher import costs of Indian onions.

Source: Dhaka Tribune February 05, 2018 12:11 UTC