Data from the Nashik-based National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation showed that onion was trading at at Rs 24 a kg on Tuesday in the benchmark Lasalgaon mandi in Nashik district of Maharashtra. That's a fall of four per cent since Monday and 40 per cent from Rs 40 a kg on January 20, a level not seen since November 6, 2019. It continues to sell at Rs 40-44 a kg in retail markets across the country.
Spiralling vegetable prices are likely to remain firm for at least a month, till the new seasonal crop comes to the wholesale markets.
Tomato prices in retail markets of metro cities have shot up to Rs 72 per kilogram on tight supply due to unseasonal rains in key producing states like Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Among metro cities, tomatoes were sold at Rs 93 per kg in Kolkata, Rs 60 per kg in Chennai, Rs 59 per kg in Delhi and Rs 53 per kg in Chennai on Monday, data showed. The retail price of tomatoes was ruling at more than Rs 50 per kg in over 50 cities out of 175-odd cities tracked by the consumer affairs ministry.
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India eats 1.2 million tonnes of onions a month and the current stock will last till the end of August.
Retail tomato prices are ruling at Rs 80 per kg in most cities across India but the rates have shot up to as high as Rs 120 per kg in few southern states because of widespread rains, according to government data. In Chennai, retail price of tomato was at Rs 100 per kg, Puducherry Rs 90 per kg, Bengalure Rs 88 per kg and Hyderabad Rs 65 per kg. In Kerala, retail prices of tomato are ruling at Rs 120 per kg in Kottayam, Rs 110 per kg in Ernakulam, Rs 103 per kg in Tiruvananthapuram, Rs 100 per kg in Palakkad, Rs 97 per kg in Trissure, and Rs 90 per kg in Wayanad and Kozikode.
In upmarket colonies, the bulb, a key ingredient in many Indian dishes, cost as high as Rs 70-80 a kg.
Onion prices had peaked to Rs 57 per kg on August 22.
Prices of the kitchen staple in Azadpur mandi, Asia's largest wholesale market, were ruling at Rs 60 per kg today as supplies were below normal.
Onion supply in Nashik low but is expected to normalise in a couple of days
Onion output dropped to 189.2 lakh tonnes in 2014-15 crop year due to poor rains
Prices start downward trend but rainfall, supply restrict climbdown.
In the coming weeks prices are expected to further cool down as new crop from Karnataka has started coming into the market.
Onions prices are still ruling at an unaffordable level, though rates have started softening both in the wholesale and retail markets across the country following government measures like allowing cooperative Nafed to import onions.
To give relief to Delhiites, the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd has started selling onions at Rs 55 a kg through its five retail outlets and two mobile vans in the national capital.
The agriculture ministry projects India's tomato output at 19.69 million tonnes in 2016-17 (July-June)
Large stocks were ruined in transit due to thunderstorm and rainfalls in the north and the north-east states, resulting in fewer kilos of potatoes at mandis.
Traders said wholesale prices are firm as supplies from producing regions have been lower in the past couple of days.
Last date for submitting the offer is August 27.
Wholesale prices too rose at the same pace to 45-55 per kg in the national capital and other states.
Prices started rising again beyond Rs 30 per kg in the last one week and are now ruling at Rs 32 per kg at Lasalgaon
Private traders had placed orders early this month with Egyptian suppliers at $320 a tonne
Prices of the key vegetable have also gone up in various cities.
Increased harvesting is expected to boost supply
Sowing up 400%; prices may be low in 2014 as Maharashtra, MP and Bengal also likely to increase acreage 15-20%.
In UP, potato prices have moved marginally up so far this month.
Onion supply to the city, which comes from Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, is normal at 12,000 quintals in Azadpur, Asia's largest wholesale market, it added.
India exports about 1.5 mt of onion every year.
Lasalgaon, Pimpalgaon mandis halt auctions to arrest the decline.
Govt floated import tender, allowed import without fumigation.
This could be the reason why Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned tomato, onion, and potato as his government's 'TOP' priority, in an election rally on February 5 in poll-bound Karnataka.
Retail prices across the country continued to be at Rs 80 a kg.
'Onion supply to mandis has declined due to its lower availability.'
'Electronic media splash sensational headlines of the bulb prices about to cross the three-figure mark and focus on customers looking longingly at baskets full of onions, bemoaning their misery without this essential staple of their diet,' notes Shreekant Sambrani.
Shortage of seeds, threat of El Nino expected to restrict sowing.
Because of the reluctance to intervene structurally in the political economy of onion trade, the BJP is paying the price till today and might continue to do so in the forthcoming election to the Delhi assembly.
In Delhi, the wholesale price is now Rs 48-52 a kg; the retail one is Rs 80 a kg.
The country has produced a record harvest, but many farmers in the onion bowl of Maharashtra have lost a large share of their crop damaged in storage, adding to the country's inflation woes.
Prithviraj Chavan helping out Delhi's government tide over high onion prices has not gone down well in his home state of Maharashtra, says Neeta Kolhatkar.
A Ganesh Nadar speaks to onion farmers in Nashik, India's largest wholesale onion market, about the high prices.
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