Now, onion does a tomato; prices climbing up steadily

Close on the heals of tomato, onion prices have also started climbing rapidly.

The floods in Gujarat and large-scale procurement by the Madhya Pradesh government have pushed onions prices northwards.

At the Lasalgaon market, prices have risen from ₹700 to ₹1,400 a quintal in a week’s time.

Maharashtra produces over 30 per cent of the nation’s onion crop and the Lasalgaon market, controlled by the State’s Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC), is the largest in the country.

The sprawling market is the national bellwether for onion prices.

In June, in order to provide support to farmers against falling onion prices, the Centre as well as the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in Madhya Pradesh had decided to procure about 2 lakh tonnes of the red bulb.

Higher production in kharif had pushed the prices below ₹600/quintal.

Pressure from farmers’ agitations had also pushed the State government to buy the crops at ₹800 a quintal. There were violent farmer protests in Madhya Pradesh over a massive fall in agri-commodity prices. The farmers sought a higher support price for their produce and waiver of loans. The move to increase onion price was taken against this background.

Nitin Jain, an onion trader from Lasalgaon,said the prices are now seeing a jump because of the unforeseen Madhya Pradesh government procurement. The floods in Gujarat have also impacted the supplies nationally.

Chairman of Lasalgaon APMC, Jaydutt Holkar, said the price increase is perceived to be higher because onion prices were subdued for the greater part of the year. The marginal decrease in supplies from Karnataka has also impacted supplies. The prices will remain high until early September, when the new crop hits the market, he said.

Onion trader Gajadhar Bhansali from Jhalawar, Rajasthan, said that in his area there is never a huge demand for onions but due to drop in supplies the prices have risen to about ₹1,800 a quintal.

COMMENT NOW