Rain effect: Onion prices at 4-year high; ‘Maha’ to impact Pune on Nov 6, 7

PUNE: The unseasonal rains in the major onion belt of Maharashtra resulted in the price of the bulb spurting to Rs 57-60 per kg in the Agriculture Produce Market Committee here on Monday, which was similar to the all-time-high price of Rs 5,700 per quintal witnessed in August 2015. The retail hike in onion prices has been massive in the last week, with buyers now paying Rs 80-90 per kg in Pune.
At the Lasalgaon APMC, the country’s largest wholesale onion market, the price shot up by Rs 650 on Monday to touch Rs 5,551 per quintal.Sources there said onions are expected to command a new all-time-high price in the next 2-3 days, with estimates that it could even touch Rs 6,000 per quintal.
Cyclone Maha, which has been classified as an “extremely severe cyclonic storm”, has battered most parts of the state including the onion belt comprising Satara, Nashik, Jalgaon, Pune, Solapur and Ahmednagar. These districts, which are the main onion suppliers to markets in Pune and Mumbai city, cannot sow the new onion crop due to the heavy rains. Once sown, the crop needs at least 2-2.5 months to be ready for harvest.
The Met department said Palghar, Thane, Dhule, Nandurbar and Nashik could be the districts that would be most affected due to the effect of ‘Maha’ when it crosses the Gujarat coast between Diu and Porbandar on November 6-7.
Pune city will also experience the cyclone’s effect on November 6 and 7. Rains are likely to intensify in the city from late Wednesday afternoon or night till Thursday forenoon, with wind speeds averaging between 25-35 kmph.
Anupam Kashyapi, head of weather, India Meteorological Department, Pune, told TOI that all the rainfall activity during the next 2-3 days in the state will be a result of ‘Maha’ and the moisture it has brought. “As the system is expected to cross the Gujarat coast in the early hours of November 7, parts of Maharashtra, especially the extreme north of Konkan and Madhya Maharashtra, are very likely to see its effect in the form of fairly widespread rains especially on November 6 till forenoon the next day,” he said.
Kashyapi said the rain is likely to reduce in Konkan and Madhya Maharashtra from November 7 afternoon. Pune city may see moderate rains with thunder and lightning from the afternoon or evening of November 6. Some isolated places in the city may get intense rain spells too.
Kashyapi said it was rare to see such rainy spells in the month of November, but this year has been a one-off case. “The number of systems, including cyclones and low pressures, has been much more and of greater severity this year,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, the markets are witnessing a 70% shortage of new onions as the rains over the last two days have damaged the new crop. An APMC official said there is just 30% supply of new onions in the current period as against the usual 100%.
Swapnil Gore, a wholesaler in the Chakan market, said that though onion exports have been stopped, a bulk of the new crop has been destroyed. “Sowing more onions will take time as fields continue to be waterlogged. If conditions remain the same, wholesale prices could spurt to even Rs 70 per kg. There is presently only 20% of the old onion stock in the market,” he said.
Sunil Kumbharkar, who owns a vegetable wholesale firm at Market Yard, said almost 90% of the new onion crop in the fields has been destroyed due to the rains in October and November. “The old onion stock in godowns is also rotting due lack of sunlight,” he said.
Presently, summer onions harvested in March and April are arriving in the markets. The shelf life of these onions is around six months and they cater to the domestic market until the arrival of the fresh kharif onions by October-end. There is no fresh harvest from May to September each year.
Kharif onions were expected to arrive in the markets by the first week of November but most plantations have been affected by the rains. A scarcity of onions is expected till November-end after which the late kharif onions will arrive.
(With inputs from Tushar Pawar in Nashik)