With the arrival of new crop in the wholesale market, onion prices today fell Rs 10 per kg to Rs 60-70 per kg in retail markets in the national capital.

Prices are expected to further cool down in the coming weeks as the new crop from Karnataka has started coming into the market.

Crop arrivals

According to NHRDF data, arrival of onion at Bangalore wholesale market has inreased by 50 per cent to 76,266 quintals today from last week level.

The prices have also declined as onions from Afghanistan via Wgha border have started coming into the market, traders added.

“Supplies have improved as the new crop from Bangalore mandi is coming into the Azadpur mandi, which has brought the prices down by Rs 10 per kg to Rs 45-50 per kg,” Onion Merchant Traders Association President Surendra Budhiraj said.

Higher supplies

He added that the supplies have increased by around 30 per cent compared to last week, with around 12,000 quintals of onion arriving in the market today against last week’s average arrival of 9,000 quintals.

Meanwhile, Mother Dairy outlets, which are selling onions at Rs 62-64 per kg, is also contemplating reducing the prices from tomorrow after the fall in prices at the wholesale market, an official said.

Price fall

Traders also attributed the fall in wholesale onion prices to decline in prices at Lasalgaon Mandi in Nashik, which sets the price trend of the politically sensitive commodity across the country.

According to National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF) data, prices of onion at Lasalgaon in Nashik decreased by Rs 6 per kg to Rs 41 per kg today.

The Government’s recent decision to hike the minimum export price (MEP) of onion to $900 per tonne from $650 per tonne has also pushed the prices downwards.

Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation had risen for the third straight month to 6.1 per cent in August, driven by 244.62 per cent jump in onion prices on an annual basis.

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