"Nothing panic, you should realize that there was a panic decision final December. But this time, we took your decision much in advance in September, " Thomas told reporters about the sidelines of the General Assembly from the International Organisation for Standardisation here.
Thomas was referring to last year's poor experience when onion prices had handled Rs 80-85 a kg in major retail markets in the united states, following which the government had banned exports from the commodity and imported large quantities through neigbouring Pakistan.
However, in the case from the latest ban, the decision was reviewed after massive farmer protests within the major growing states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka and was lifted based on farmers' assurance that there would be no shortage from the kitchen staple in domestic markets, he or she added.
"But we should understand something, that ours is a farmers' country and also the farmers should get a reasonable price for his or her produce, " said Thomas, who attended the important Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) associated with Food meeting yesterday, where the choice to lift the ban was used.
"The government needs to balance the eye of consumers and farmers, " he or she said.
Asked if permitting onion exports might trigger upward movement in onion costs again, the minister said, "We will regularly review the problem. "
It has also been chose to fix the minimum export price (MEP) for onions in a high level of $475 a tonne in order to discourage exports.
Defending the decision to ban onion exports on September 9 within the wake of onion prices shooting as much as Rs 25 a kg in list markets, Thomas said it was drawn in advance to prevent a repeat from the bad experience in December last 12 months, when onion rates had soared to Rs 80-85 within the retail markets.
He said a similar decision was taken for milk too.
The government had banned milk exports in December this past year and imported milk powder in anticipation of the supply shortfall at home in March-April this season.
Source : Business-Standard