As onion exports resume, stranded trucks begin to leave ports & cross borders

Nashik: Onion exports have resumed after four days, following Central govt's update of its order in the customs department system.Over 400 onion-laden trucks from Nashik were stuck at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai and the Indo-Bangladesh border, as well as other ports, since Saturday. The obstacle occurred as the Centre had not updated its Sept 13 order about the removal of Minimum Export Price (MEP) and the reduction in export duty in the customs department system.According to the Horticultural Produce Exporters' Association (HPEA), exports have resumed, and stranded onion-laden trucks have started passing through ports and borders since Tuesday night."On Sept 13, Centre issued separate notifications for the removal of the MEP of $550 per tonne and 50% reduction in export duty on onions from the previous 40% to 20% now. However, Centre did not update its orders on the customs system. As a result, the customs process could not take place and hundreds of onion-laden trucks were stuck at JNPT Mumbai, Indo-Bangladesh borders in West Bengal, and even the inland container depot at Janori near Nashik city for four days," said Vikas Singh, vice president, HPEA. He added that now, the flow has restarted.Singh also pointed out that even though Centre reduced export duty by half, the wholesale prices of export quality onion — which were back in the price range of Rs38-42 per kg in the wholesale markets of India around 10 days ago — have still increased to between Rs48 and Rs52 per kg."As a result, export price of onions from the country is still costlier compared to that of China and Pakistan. Hence, the demand for the country's onions in the international markets is still slow and it will take a few days to improve," said Singh.