The onion prices touching nearly ₹100 a kg, has literally made people cry in Chennai. “I just got two kgs of onions for ₹200,” said, B Hema, a housewife. It was just ₹50 a month ago. Onion is a must addition in daily food, she added.

In the wholesale Koyambedu market, onion price touched a high of ₹80 a kg, up by nearly ₹25 compared to two weeks ago, said P Sugumar, Treasurer, Koyambedu Vegetable, Fruit and Flower Merchants Welfare Association. A year ago, at this time the price was around ₹30 per kg, he told BusinessLine .

Koyambedu gets nearly 50 per cent of onion supply from Nashik in Maharashtra (best quality); 30 per cent from Bellary in Karnataka (second best) and 20 per cent from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Supply of onions halves

Supply from Nashik has dropped by nearly half in the last few days due to heavy rain there, he said.

On a normal day, nearly 100 trucks with onion arrive in Koyambedu market but the supply is down by nearly half in the last two weeks, he said. “We expect the price to be on the high side for next two weeks unless the government acts swiftly and take action to arrest the price increase,” he said.

As against a supply of nearly 100 kgs, the supply is being rationed with only half the quantity, said Muthamma, a vegetable vendor in Triplicane.

State Minister for Cooperation Sellur K Raju attributed the shortage due to heavy rains in main onion producing centres of Nashik, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. He agreed that the retail price has touched nearly ₹60, and that the State government is monitoring the situation continuously to see that the price does not increase further.

At a review meeting two days ago, Chief Minister Edapaddi K Palaniswami instructed officials to take all efforts to arrest the increase in onion prices, Raju told newspersons on Wednesday. “Our officials are chasing those who have hoarding large quantities of onion. We will have good news in the next two days,” he added.

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