The onion prices stayed unchanged at Rs 40-50 a kg in the retail markets of the four metros on Monday, while prices of tomato and garlic continued to remain a cause for worry for households across the country. There was no change in the retail prices of onion despite a marginal rise in wholesale rates in prominent onion market yards at Lasalgaon and Pimpalgaon in Nashik district of Maharashtra.
Onions sold at level of Rs 37.5 a kg in Azadpur, Asia's biggest wholesale fruits & vegetables market, chairman Delhi Agricultural Marketing Board, Braham Yadav told PTI.
There was a rise in wholesale rates of onion in Lasalgaon which sold at Rs 47 a kg from Rs 35 a kg on Saturday, sources in APMC Nashik said.
Wholesale prices of the root vegetable was Rs 38 per kg on Monday. Prices of tomato and garlic continued to remain high at Rs 40-60/kg and Rs 250-300/kg respectively in the metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
Meanwhile, Agri cooperative Nafed, NCCF (National Consumers Cooperative Federation) and Kendriya Bhandar, which along with Mother Dairy, were selling onion at Rs 40 a kg since December 20 when the rates of the vegetable had zoomed to Rs 70-80 in the national capital, lowered the price today by Rs 5 per kg to Rs 35 a kg.
Mother Dairy, however, continued to sell onion from its 300 outlets in Delhi at the old rate of Rs 40 a kg.
"We are concentrating more on quality of onion made available to customers than on rates. Onions are being sent out to outlets only after proper sorting," Mother Dairy Chief Operating Officer Sunil Bansal said. Besides the 300 outlets of Mother Dairy, Nafed and NCCF are selling onion through their 25 outlets and Kendriya Bhandar (about 75) in the national capital.
The retail prices of onion had fallen by Rs 10 a kg from Saturday's level of Rs 50-60/kg after which people had hoped that the downhill trend would continue with every passing day.
The climb down had started after government intervened with measures like a ban on exports, abolition of import duty and asking state government's to crackdown on onion hoarders.
