Onion retail price tracker: Thursday, December 12

The fresh arrival of domestic produce and imported stock cooled down onion prices in different parts of the country, though the maximum retail price as recorded on the Department of Consumer Affairs website stayed unchanged at ₹160/kg on Thursday. The minimum price, however, rose to ₹50/kg from ₹40 on Wednesday, as the retail price in Jhansi climbed by ₹10/kg.

Intervention by State governments helped consumers get some respite from the high prices. In West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ordered that the bulb be sold at ₹59/kg in fair price shops.

A notification by Puducherry’s Civil Supplies Department on Wednesday barring wholesale dealers from stocking more than 2.5 tonnes each of the bulb is expected to bring down prices in the Union Territory. The retail price of the bulb there was ₹90/kg on Thursday.

Onion prices continued to slide in Panaji, declining to ₹110/kg on Thursday from ₹140 on Wednesday. In Kerala, too, prices fell by ₹10-15/kg. From ₹160-165/kg earlier this week it has come down to ₹130/140. In comparison, prices in Jhansi and Kanpur increased by ₹10-20/kg.

Zone-wise data

In the North, onions were the most expensive in Meerut, at ₹120/kg, and most affordable in Jhansi, at ₹50/kg.

In the West, it was retailing at ₹120/kg in Ambikapur and Jagdalpur and at ₹50/kg in Jaipur, Udaipur, Sagar and Gwalior, all of which lie in the onion-growing belt.

In the East, onions were retailing at a high of ₹120/kg in Kolkata, Purulia and Raiganj, and at a low of ₹69/kg in Gaya.

In the South, the prices were the highest in Mayabunder (Andaman), at ₹160/kg, and the least in Hyderabad and Jadcherla, where it cost only ₹75/kg.