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Onion traders go on strike to protest ban on exports, limits on stocks
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Saturday, 05 October, 2019, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Ashwani Maindola, New Delhi and Ranjana Sharma, Mu
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The decision taken by the Union government to ban the export of onions, in wake of the skyrocketing prices of the commodity, has not gone well with the traders and farmers in Maharashtra’s onion hub Nashik, as several of the key onion producing villages including Lasalgaon, Asia’s largest onion wholesale market, witnessing strike as a mark of protest.
“Strike is also observed in neighbouring areas of Satana and Manmad,” informed Raju Shetti, head, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtana, while speaking to FnB News. The Sanghtana is spearheading the agitation.
Shetti revealed that the traders and farmers in Nashik decided to oppose the move by the government to ban exports as exports were fetching good price for the commodity to the farmers. “This decision would be detrimental to the farmers and they would suffer from the ban on export of onion, the most,” said Shetti.
As a remedy to end the strike, Shetti suggested that the government should revoke the ban as the new crop is expected to come in two weeks’ time.
Arrivals low, prices dip
The strike has cast a shadow on the arrival of onions at various APMCs and it has been low in the past few days resulting in spiralling of prices. Ashok Walunj, onion potato market director, APMC, Pune, observed that the APMCs were witnessing low arrival of onions and there was slowdown in the onion trade. Besides, the government has also banned the export, which is expected to continue till Diwali.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Union government has decided to ban export of onions and put a stockholding limit on retailers and wholesalers across the country. it has imposed a stockholding limit of 100 quintals on retailers and 500 quintals on wholesale traders across India.
Meanwhile, Ram Vilas Paswan, Union minister for food and public distribution, while talking to press, stated that onion prices are expected to come down in coming days.“The prices are already coming down after the government’s ban on export and releasing of the buffer stock. Some 18,000 tonne of onion has already been disposed and we still have another 25,000 tonne of onion,” he said.
Because of the decision, wholesale prices of onion have come down to Rs 30 a kg at Lasalgaon.
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