The Centre has withdrawn 20 per cent duty on onion export, effective from April 1. A notification to this effect was issued by the Department of Revenue on Saturday on the communication of the Department of Consumer Affairs.

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 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.

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“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. Monthly onion export quantity had picked up from 0.72 LMT in September, 2024 to 1.85 LMT in January, 2025,” the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said.

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

Even though the current mandi prices are above the level during the 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.

Onion arrivals in benchmark markets Lasalgaon and Pimpalgaon have increased from this month which drive prices downward. The modal prices in Lasalgaon and Pimpalgaon on March 21, 2025 were Rs 1330/qtl and Rs 1325/qtl, respectively.

As per the estimates of Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, rabi production this year at 227 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) is over 18 per cent higher than 192 LMT last year.

The rabi onion which accounted for 70-75 per cent of India’s total onion production is crucial for overall availability and stability in prices till the arrival of kharif crop from October/November onward. The estimated higher production this season is expected to further ease the market prices in coming months.

The emerging production and prices scenario came as a welcome breather for the country which had to grapple with the twin issues of lower domestic production and high international prices from August, 2023.