Onion prices that dropped to a two-and-a-half month low earlier this week gained marginally towards the weekend on lower arrivals.
At Lasalgaon in Maharashtra, onion of better quality was quoted at Rs 1,535 a quintal against 1.495 on Thursday. The modal price or the rates at which most trades took place increased to Rs 1,300 from Rs 1,200.
On Tuesday, the maximum price dropped to Rs 1,392, a rate not seen after November 1. The prices drop was mainly due to arrivals of 1,305.5 tonnes that day.
Since then, there has been a drop in arrivals with the inflow declining to 1.123 tonnes on Friday from 1,149 on Thursday.
With harvest of late kharif on, prices are expected to rule around this level as domestic demand is supporting current market trend.
Prices had run up to a record Rs 6,299 a quintal on December 20 before the Government took steps such as banning exports to curb the price rise.
Onion prices are ruling high as unseasonal rain in November damaged the crop. Besides, the rain also affected the seedlings.