Govt buying onions at ₹2,410 a qtl, says Piyush Goyal
NEW DELHI : The Centre has begun purchasing onions at ₹ 2,410 per quintal from Tuesday, consumer affairs and food minister Piyush Goyal said, as prices of the kitchen staple picked up and trading in the Agriculture Produce Market Committees remains suspended in Maharashtra. “The measure is being taken to ensure the interest of both farmers as well as consumers," he added. The FOB (Free on Board) price, which is the price goods are exported at, stood at $320 per quintal.
“This translates into ₹18-20 per kg of realization for the farmers which is much below ₹24.10 that we are offering," Goyal said. The government on Sunday decided to increase the onion buffer to 500,000 tonnes from an initial procurement target of 300,000 tonnes for the current year. The National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India Limited and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India have started procuring the additional 100,000 tonnes each.
“This year, we have bought 300,000 tonnes of onions because of which prices have risen and farmers have earned considerable profits. Further, the government decided to buy an additional 200,000 tonnes. There is no bar on procurement, and the number will be increased if needed," Goyal told reporters.
The statement came after the APMC of Lasalgaon in Nashik, Asia’s largest onion market, stopped trading in onions for an indefinite period beginning Monday to protest the Centre’s imposition of 40% export duty. Fearing onion prices could touch triple digits like tomato, the government on Saturday imposed the export duty until December to augment domestic supplies and tame inflation during the upcoming festival season. “Our intervention in tomato helped consumers and prices came down
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