Wholesale price inflation (WPI) declined to a 14-month low of 0.39 per cent in May on easing prices of food articles and fuel, and experts said geopolitical tensions could push up prices.
The suicide note also stated about "foul language" used by people associated with a cooperative society and threat by lenders (finance firms), a police officer said on Monday.
Retail prices across the country continued to be at Rs 80 a kg.
Because of late monsoon, arrival of kharif (summer) onion crops would be delayed by a month in key growing areas of Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, threatening to push up prices in the late September and October.
The fear of price rise gained momentum after reports surfaced that the NAFED procured 50,000 tonnes of onion this season.
He said the onion farmers need to get a good price for the crop and the affected farmers get compensation.
Onion is currently trading between Rs 70 and Rs 80 in retail markets across the country.
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As there are no takers for the bumper crop of onion and prices are spiralling down, farmers in Indore, Madhya Pradesh are now feeding the bulb to the milch animals.
'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.
A Ganesh Nadar speaks to onion farmers in Nashik, India's largest wholesale onion market, about the high prices.
Wholesale price inflation dropped to 0.85 per cent in April as prices of food articles, manufactured products, and fuel eased, government data showed on Wednesday. WPI-based inflation was 2.05 per cent in March. It was 1.19 per cent in April last year.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has projected retail inflation at 4.2 percent for the next financial year beginning April while retaining the forecast for 2024-25 at 4.8 percent. The central bank attributed the expected easing of inflation to good kharif production, winter-easing in vegetable prices and favorable rabi crop prospects. However, the RBI also noted that continued uncertainty in global financial markets coupled with volatility in energy prices and adverse weather events presents upside risks to the inflation trajectory.
Both red and yellow onions have been imported from Turkey, Egypt and Afghanistan. The shipments are landing at Mumbai port.
With 3,000 tonnes of imported onion entering the market over the next fortnight, the price should start cooling off. Soon after, the new crop of onions will arrive, further reducing prices.
Experts believe the rising prices may encourage farmers to bring in additional areas for under onion cultivation during the rabi season, which may boost the precious bulb's output, reports Dilip Kumar Jha.
The crop is currently trading at Rs 22 a kg compared to Rs 12.50 one month ago.
Last week, the Union Cabinet decided to import 1.2 lakh tonnes of onions to improve the domestic supply and control prices, which touched Rs 100 per kg earlier this month.
Wholesale price inflation marginally rose to 2.38 per cent in February due to expensive manufactured food items like vegetables oil and beverages, government data released on Monday showed. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation was 2.31 per cent in January. It was 0.2 per cent in February 2024.
A group of onion traders gathered at the Pimpalgaon Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC), near Nashik, to inspect one of the season's final harvests of red onions as they look to place their bids. They were surrounded by farmers, who brought their produce here from different parts of the district. Farmers have reasons to be optimistic.
'Onion supply to mandis has declined due to its lower availability.'
Onion has become costlier by over 33 per cent in the last one week and over 70 per cent in September so far, reports Dilip Kumar Jha.
There was a delay in sowing of kharif onion because of late arrival of monsoon and later floods in many states damaged the crop.
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.
Assembly elections in Maharashtra are scheduled later this month. The farmer protests are likely to affect the results, especially in the onion-growing belt of Nashik.
At Lasalgaon mandi, Asia's largest onion selling market, the onion price jumped Rs 1.50 a kg to Rs 32 a kg, the highest since January last year.
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Wholesale price based inflation declined to a 3-month low of 1.89 per cent in November on cheaper food items, and experts predicted a 0.25 per cent interest rate cut by the RBI in the policy review in February. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation was 2.36 per cent in October 2024. It was 0.39 per cent in November, last year. In August, 2024, it was 1.25 per cent.
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.
Looking to profit from the boom in onion prices across the country, some farmers in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat, the third largest producer of the vegetable in the country, are uprooting the crop from their fields almost a month before they are ready for harvest.
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
So far, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal governments have taken the imported onions.
The exchange came at a time when the finance minister was listing out the various measures adopted by the central government to stem rising onion prices in the country.
The domestic availability of onion has been affected on account of damage to kharif crop because of unseasonal rains in key producing states including Maharashtra.
Tomato prices have been on the boil for more than a month. Data from major cities show that the spike has been between 125 and 150 per cent at the wholesale level. Soaring vegetable prices, including tomatoes, pushed the retail inflation rate to a nine-month high of 5.49 per cent in September, according to government data. Though reports say prices are expected to come down in the next few weeks after supplies improve from Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, how long will the respite last is anybody's guess.
Country's onion output stood at 175.11 lakh tonnes in the crop year 2011-12, while in the year 2012-13 production is estimated at 166.55 lakh tonnes (provisional), Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
Though three crops of onions are raised in a year - early kharif, late kharif and rabi - their harvests are not evenly spread out.
According to the official data, arrival of onion in wholesale mandi has increased almost three times to 30,000 tonnes in Bengaluru and 10,000 tonnes in Hyderabad, respectively, in the last one month.
