New Delhi: After the Maharashtra Government sought the Centre to slash the Minimum Export Price (MEP) for onions to help boost overseas shipments after its wholesale prices went down to the Rs 10 per kg level, the Central Government has slashed the MEP to $400 per tonne from $700 a tonne.
Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in a tweet, said the decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday.
The meeting was also attended by Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and Ms Sitharaman. MEP is the rate below which no traders are allowed to export. The rise in MEP restricts exports and improves domestic supply.
Ms Sitharaman further said, an Inter Ministerial Group will review the arrivals of the kitchen staple in mandis and their prices, every two weeks.
In August, the government had hiked onion MEP to 700 dollars per tonne, as prices at both wholesale and retail levels were skyrocketing on lower output due to unseasonal rainfall.
However, earlier this week, Maharashtra government had asked the Centre to slash the MEP for onions to help boost overseas shipments after its wholesale prices went down to the Rs 10 per kg level.
