New Delhi

The government on Saturday withdrew 20 per cent duty on onion exports, effective from April 1.

To ensure domestic availability, the government had taken measures to check export by means of duty, minimum export price (MEP), and even to the extent of an export prohibition for almost five months, from December 8, 2023, till May 3, 2024.

The export duty of 20 per cent which now stands removed has been in place from September 13, 2024, according to the Department of Revenue.

Despite export restriction, the total onion export during FY 2023-24 was 17.17 LMT and FY 2024-25 (till 18th March) was 11.65 LMT.

According to the government, monthly onion export quantity had picked up from 0.72 LMT in September, 2024 to 1.85 LMT in January, 2025.

“The decision stands as another testament to the government’s commitment to ensuring remunerative prices to farmers while maintaining the affordability of onion to the consumers at this crucial juncture when both mandi and retail prices have softened following the expected arrival of rabi crops in good quantities," the Ministry of Consumer Affairs said.

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Even though, the current mandi prices are above the level during corresponding period of previous years, a decline of 39 per cent is observed in the all-India weighted average modal prices.

Similarly, all-India average retail prices recorded a decline of 10 per cent over the past one month.