The government has removed the Minimum Export Price (MEP) on potato, which was imposed in July, in order to boost shipments of the kitchen staple. As per notification issued by Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), export of potatoes, fresh or chilled shall be permitted for exports without any MEP.
The government had earlier in July imposed MEP of $360 per tonne on potato in order to increase domestic availability and cool prices. The country is the second largest producer of potato in the world which stood at 48 million tonnes in 2014-15. However, its export was less than 1% of the output.
India exported 1.80 lakh tonnes of potato in 2015-16 fiscal, which was lower than 3.05 lakh tonnes in the previous year.