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Onion Traders Organise Boycott to Protest Government's 40% Export Duty

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Onion - Sputnik India, 1920, 21.08.2023
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To curb rising onion prices domestically, the Indian government on Saturday imposed a 40-percent export duty on the vegetable until 31 December.
Onion traders in parts of Maharashtra, especially in the city of Nashik, have announced a boycott starting Monday.
Nashik is the largest wholesale market for onions in Asia. Laying out the reason for the protest, Vijay Patil, an onion exporter from Nashik, told Sputnik India that on the domestic market, the vegetable was being sold at a very low price, INR 30-40 per kilogram and the centre's decision to impose an additional duty will lead to a further drop in price.

“[The] government has increase[d] [the] export duty as a precautionary measure. However, in reality, [the] price per kg has increased only around INR 10 per kg. Now, [the] price will come down around INR 10,” Patil said.

Patil added that the central government had turned a blind eye towards the problem of onion traders when prices were at INR 500-600 per quintal.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, Sharad Pawar, veteran leader of Maharashtra, said that the decision would sorely sting onion growers.

“Export allows farmers to earn some extra money. The latest decision to impose [an] export duty will result in a fall in prices of onion[s] in the domestic market,” said Pawar, who had served as Union agriculture minister from 2004 to 2014.

The decision by the federal authorities comes after the onion price, in many Indian cities, jumped 10-15 percent within a fortnight. This move also come on the heels of skyrocketing tomato prices (an increase of up to 400) in Indian cities last month.
Meanwhile, the federal government has created a buffer stock of 300,000 tonnes of onions for fiscal year 2023-24. It has also decided to procure an additional 200,000-tonnes of the vegetable for the buffer this year.
On Sunday, the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) said that it would start selling onions at retail at a subsidized rate of ₹25 per kg in the national capital from Monday to help relieve consumers from soaring prices on the kitchen staple.
A farmer harvests rice crop in a paddy field on the outskirts of Guwahati, India, Tuesday, June 6, 2023. - Sputnik India, 1920, 19.08.2023
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