Onion prices touch Rs 80/kg, further hike expected

Navi Mumbai: Onion prices touched Rs 80 per kg mark on Saturday, and with new crop in Maharashtra not expected soon, there might be further rise in the price, said traders.

While the wholesale price has tripled in the last one month, the retail price of the crop has doubled with a huge rise of 33% happening in just the last four days.

In the APMC wholesale market of Vashi, the price has risen from Rs 16-17 per kg in the first week of July to Rs 60 – 62 per kg now.  Earlier this month it was Rs 35-38 per kg. Just four days back the price was Rs 45-50 per kg.

“Usually around 125-130 vehicles carrying onions come to the market every day. The arrivals at present are however around 80-90 vehicles,” said Ashok Karpe, a wholesaler.

He further said, “40 tonnes of onion from Egypt has arrived at JNPT port but it will make little difference. First it will take a week for clearance from the port and there is no idea of its quality either. Besides there is no crop left in Maharashtra and so there is going to be huge shortage locally.”

“While due to the absence of rain, new crop in Maharashtra will come only after 3 months, there could be some arrivals from Karnataka by September 15. If that crop is good, there could be some respite.”

Pointing that the retailers are are suffering losses, retailer Rajesh Gupta said, “It is becoming very difficult to sell as the customers are upset and buying in smaller quantities. We cannot raise the price much despite the higher increase in the wholesale market. At times we are suffering losses.”

He added, “It does not look like the prices are going to come down soon. In fact the situation is such that onion price could go upto Rs 90 per kg soon.”

According to Babaji Evle, a farmer from Renvadi village of Ahmednagar, “We are facing very tough times. Only 25% of the produce can be sold. We are unable to meet even our costs.”

Traders at the wholesale Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) in Vashi say a lot of onion crop was destroyed in the rains during transportation leading to high wastage and that the crop production has been low this year due to the inclement weather. The current production too is coming to an end.