Onion prices continued to decline in Kerala. On Thursday, Palakkad and Thrissur saw the average retail prices of the bulb decline by ₹10 and ₹25 a kg, respectively, from Tuesday’s prices, to retail at ₹100 and ₹110.
Data on the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) website show that the price has softened by ₹10-20/kg in other centres such as Dharmapuri, Chennai, Berhampur, Jodhpur, Sagar, Rudrapur, Haridwar and Ramanathapuram since Tuesday.
The average retail price of the bulb in Mayabunder, Andaman, where it was being sold at ₹160/kg on Saturday, dropped to ₹140/kg on Thursday. Very few centres reported any increase in prices since Tuesday. Bhuj in Gujarat and Karnal in Haryana were among the few centres where prices climbed by ₹20 and ₹10 a kg, respectively.
Across the country, the minimum and maximum retail prices of the bulb remained unchanged at ₹48 and ₹150 a kg, respectively, on Thursday.
Zone-wise data
Prices were seen to vary widely across zones and within States. The variation was the widest in the South and the narrowest in the East. Here’s a look at how prices varied within zones on Thursday:
North: Onions were the most expensive in Shimla, where it was priced at ₹ 120/kg on an average, and the most affordable in Jhansi, at ₹50/kg.
West: In Ambikapur and Jagdalpur, the bulb was retailing at ₹120/kg while in cities such as Gwalior it sold at ₹48/kg on an average.
East: Retail prices were seen to be the highest in Kolkata, at ₹120/kg, whereas in Rampurhat, also in West Bengal, it was relatively reasonable at ₹80/kg.
North-East: In Itanagar, onions sold at ₹150/kg; in Guwahati, it was ₹101/kg.
South: Onions were the most expensive in Andaman, with Port Blair and Mayabunder reporting an average retail price of ₹140/kg, and the cheapest in Hyderabad, where it cost only ₹70/kg.
Here's a round-up of the top five cities with the highest and lowest prices on Thursday, December 26.