Government extends ban on hoarding onion beyond ceiling by one year

NEW DELHI |PUNE: The Union government has extended the ban on onion hoarding by one more year, a week after sharply increasing the minimum export price of the commodity, to ensure availability and price stability in domestic markets.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), headed by the prime minister, on Wednesday extended the limit on the quantity of onions wholesalers can stock with them —imposed for a year in July last to tame prices — by one more year.

The CCEA also approved setting up of an online agriculture market that will provide more options to farmers for selling their produce, and a central scheme for providing irrigation facility to every village by converging the ongoing schemes being implemented by various ministries into the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana.

“With a stock holding limit on onion, state governments will be able to take strong measures on hoarders under the Essential Commodities Act (ECA), 1955,” a food ministry official said.

Trade experts, however, say these measures will hardly help in case prices have to move up, although onion prices are expected to remain stable this month.

While monsoon rains was above average in June, the weather office has predicted below average rains in July, August and September, which may impact farm products output and prices.