Govt Imposes Stock Holding Limit on Onion Traders to Check Prices

In a bid to counter this rise in prices, Consumer Affairs Secretary Nandan said that certain steps have been taken.

Govt will be lifting the ban on onion exports as prices are expected to drop sharply.

(Photo: PTI)

Centre has imposed a stock holding limit on onion traders in a bid to check prices, informed Consumer Affairs Secretary Leena Nandan, on Friday, 23 October.

Nandan also informed that a buffer stock of 1 lakh metric tonnes of onions has also been created, reported ANI.

“We have imposed stock limit of onion effective from today. A notification has been issued. Stock limit for wholesaler is 25 metric tons and for retailers it is 2 metric tons.”   

Leena Nandan, Consumer Affairs Secretary

Further, according to Nandan, Centre has supplied onions to various states as per their requirement.

“Till now, 35 thousand metric tons of onion were given to states to maintain certain stability in prices,” Nandan reportedly said.

“As a nation, we’re a large consumer of onions. Proactive steps have been taken constantly to augment the production of onions. But from the second week of September, there’s been a steady increase in the relatively stable prices.”

Leena Nandan, Consumer Affairs Secretary

In a bid to counter this rise in prices, Nandan said that certain steps have been taken.

“This is the first time when we've created a buffer stock of 1 lakh metric tonnes of onions to take care of rising price by the calibrated release of that stock,” he further said.

BACKGROUND

Concerned over the rising prices of onions, the Centre on Wednesday, 21 October, relaxed the norms for import of onions while deciding to release the crop from the buffer stock in a calibrated manner, reported IANS.

The government, according to IANS, has built a buffer stock of onions from the Rabi season this year. In order to moderate prices, onion from the buffer stock is being released in a calibrated manner from the second half of September to the major mandis and retail suppliers such as Safal, Kendriya Bhandar and NCCF; and to the state governments, the Centre added that more will be done in the coming days.

IANS further reported that to facilitate the import of onions, the government has relaxed the conditions for fumigation and additional declaration on Phytosanitary Certificate under the Plant Quarantine Order, 2003, for import up to 15 December 2020.

(With inputs from ANI and IANS.)