Government today decided to lift ban on export of onions after its prices almost crashed in the domestic market, which triggered farmers' protest. The decision to this effect was taken by an Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Food headed by Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. The government had banned onion export in the last week of December, 2010 to augment domestic supply and contain rising onion prices, which had touched 70 to 80 rupees per kilogram then. The ministers' panel, as a precautionary measure against possibility of price shooting again, decided to allow shipments of onions at a Minimum Export Price about 28,000 rupees per tonne. Prior to the ban, India exported 11.58 lakh tonnes of onions mainly to gulf countries, Sri Lanka and Malaysia during April-November of this fiscal.