He says the request by Kanhiyyalal Gidwani, convenor of the Essential Commodities Action Committee of the Shiv Sena in Mumbai, to the Centre to ban onion exports to curb rising prices is a publicity stunt meant to impress the people of Mumbai.

Blaming the chain of traders between the Vashi wholesale market in Navi Mumbai and Mumbai for the inordinate rise in onion prices, Patil told The Indian Express that the Lasalgaon APMC is willing to supply onions for Rs 20 per kg if trucks are permitted to cross the Mulund check naka in the metropolis.

Retail prices in Mumbai have been hovering around Rs 25 per kg because costs are pushed up by traders in Mumbai and there is no need to tamper with exports, Patil said, criticising Gidwani for issuing statements``from an airconditioned office'' without understanding the issue.

Gidwani, despite being a party colleague, had not consulted him before approaching the Centre to request a ban on exports. Gidwani wants to pamper traders and urban consumers, he alleges.

Patil says if any consumer forum is willing to cooperate, the Laslagaon APMC would be willing to enter into an annual agreement to supply onions at Rs 500 per quintal round the year, eliminating the chain of traders in the metropolis.

Onion prices have been climbing steadily with stocks, harvested from the April-May rabi crop, being fast depleted. With the passage of time, the onions, stored by farmers and traders during the lean supply season, lose considerable weight. A portion of them also rots, causing losses amounting to as much as 50 per cent. However, he points out, that during a glut when prices plummet to about Rs 150 per quintal (below the breakeven level of Rs 300) no one cares about the farmer.

He says like onions, the prices of all otheressential commodities, have also soared but only onions are being singled out. The fluctuation in its price from Rs 1,200 per quintal (during the lean supply season) to Rs 150 per quintal (during the peak supply season), is not taken into account.

Moreover, supply will improve within a month, with the arrival of the fresh kharif crop of the `Pol' variety.

S M Pillai, branch manager of the government-owned National Agricultural Marketing Federation (NAFED), the sole onion export canalising agency, told The Indian Express that the fear of a ban had led to speculative marketing over the last week. In any case, he points out, exports are about 50 per cent less than usual around this time of the year.

He also predicted a marginal dip in prices, which are expected to stabilise at around Rs 1,000 per quintal till the arrival of the kharif crop.

Meanwhile, Gidwani has taken umbrage at Patil's allegations.

``I am not talking about the prices of onions in Mumbai alone. Our aim is to control theincreasing price of onions at the national level. If he (Patil) is talking about providing onions at Rs 20 per kg, I would demand that onions be available below Rs 15 per kg,'' Gidwani told The Indian Express.

Banning exports is one way to curb prises at the national level, he points out, adding that Patil is focusing on the local level. He also says he has no intention of drawing political mileage from the issue.

Nafed raises export price

NEW DELHI: Nafed has steeply raised the selling price of onions in the global market, official sources said today. It has raised the freight-on-board (FOB) price by US $ 150 a tonne, to $ 475 for Gulf countries.

The move follows a recommendation on August 17 from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade to the Agriculture Ministry for ``temporarily'' banning export as a measure to control onion prices.

However, Commerce Ministry officials failed to confirm reports of an eight-day ban on exports from August 17, which is reported to have led to a crashin onion prices in the main producing centres of Maharashtra.

Onions were quoted at between Rs 1,455-Rs 1,800 per quintal early this week in the producing centres before declining to Rs 150 per quintal on August 18.

Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde had assured a delegation from Maharashtra, comprising Kanhiyyalal Gidwani and Sena minister in the Union Cabinet Suresh Prabhu on Sunday that onion exports would be banned if necessary to arrest domestic prices.