In Nashik’s Lasalgaon’s market, which is the largest onion wholesale market, onions touched Rs 5,500 per quintal on Monday, which was reportedly the highest since August 2015. Witnessing a dip of Rs 1000, on Wednesday, the prices dropped to Rs 4,300 per quintal.
The exorbitant rates of onion, which is a commonly consumed vegetable in all households, have been burning a hole in consumers’ pockets since the end of June. They were sold at Rs 25 per kg in June, but began escalating since then to sell at around 80-100 in October.
The prices had stabilized for a brief span during October end, but spiraled again in the beginning of November.
In the first week of November, the production of onions reaching retail market witnessed a dip of 25-30 percent.
Even the buffer stock of government has only 1500 tonnes of onions left in it.
In Delhi, onions were being sold at around 50-55 per kg on October, which rose by almost 45% and reached 80-100 slab
The Reasons:
Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, on Wednesday, cited fall in output as the main reason behind the soaring prices of bulbs.
He said onion prices have shot up to Rs 80/kg in the retail market due to 30-40 % decline in domestic production, which was caused by delay in sowing of Kharif onion. The delay was caused by the late arrival of monsoon and then the subsequent flooding of many states including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka and Bihar.
Of these states, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh account for about 50% of the country’s total onion production.
An official statement by the Ministry also stated that untimely rains and two cyclones had an impact on the overall production of onions and also impacted the transportation of the stocks especially from Maharashtra.
How government plans to tackle the shortage:
There isn’t a chance of any plunge in the prices anytime soon, experts have warned citing the drop in production in the onion-producing states.
In order to deal with the countrywide shortage, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan has decided to import onions from Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Egypt.
The ministry hoped that as many as 80 containers of onions will soon reach India, which will resolve the issue to a great extent.
However, as per ABP News’ sources, the prices of onions in the countries from where India seeks imports, are also high.
Meanwhile in Delhi, the Kejriwal government has once again resumed the door-step sale of onions as prices rose steadily in the first week of November.
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