Nashik onion reaches Kolkata, price drop likely

KOLKATA: The first truck from Nashik, laden with the new onion crop, reached Posta wholesale market on Friday, raising hopes of a price reduction in city markets. Since this new crop is highly perishable, it is expected to reach consumers soon at a cheaper-than-existing rate.
Onion traders in Nashik have assured their Posta counterparts that the frequency of such trucks carrying the newly harvested crop will increase over the next 10 days.This new crop, which cannot be stored for long, needs to be consumed within a few days of its arrival. The next cycle of harvesting will produce onion that can be stored for long, said Kamal De, the president of the West Bengal Vegetable Vendors’ Association.
Meanwhile, retail markets across the city near-emptied their onion stocks. “The drastic drop in demand has had its impact on the wholesale offtake as well. On Friday, six trucks laden with onions from Rajasthan, too, reached Posta market. But there was hardly any taker for it. Much of the consignment was left untouched,” said Chandan Chakraborty, working president, Posts Bazar Onion Merchants’ Association.
With wholesale price hovering around Rs 120-135 a kg, the retail price on Friday remained as high as Rs 140-160 a kg. “There is no chance that any retailer will take the risk of selling onion. Whatever stock we have now, we have kept aside for our personal consumption. Demand for onion has fallen sharply,” said Dilip Mondal, secretary of the Gariahat Market committee.
The imported onion from Egypt is also likely to bring down onion price. The Centre has committed 800 tonnes of onion for the city. “We want this onion to come in four phases of 200 tonnes each. That will be sold through 934 ration shops, said a agri-marketing department officer.
“Once the new crop from Nashik comes and imported onion from Egypt is sold through ration shops, the widening demand-supply gap will be bridged to an extent, though the daily consumption of onion in Bengal is 8,000 tonnes.
Meanwhile, onion production is being experimented at Hariharpara and Beldanga in Murshidabad and Nilgunj, Kalna and Midnapore. The onion will be harvested at February end.