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Year ends with major corrections in onion prices as wholesale markets welcome late kharif crop

Onion prices have been at an all-time high as a dip in production hit supplies in the markets. Since September, onion prices have been on the rise, with retail prices in cities like Pune and Mumbai crossing Rs 100 per kg.

onion prices, onion rates, rates of onion, onion markets, onion wholesales, pune news, indian express news Since September, onion prices have been rising, with retail prices in cities like Pune and Mumbai crossing Rs 100 per kg.. (File)

The bull run in onion markets seems to be finally over as the average traded price of the bulb in the wholesale markets of Nashik saw a dip of almost Rs 3,000 per quintal in the last fortnight or so. As arrivals of the local crop improve and imports dry out, further correction in retail and wholesale prices is expected in the days to come.

On Tuesday, the average traded price of the onion at Lasalgaon wholesale market in Niphad taluka of Nashik district was Rs 4,500 per quintal. Price in this market — the largest onion market in the country — has seen a correction of Rs 3,000 per quintal in the last fortnight or so.

However, while wholesale prices have corrected substantially, retail prices still remain above Rs 100 per kg in many cities like Delhi, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and others. In Pune, the retail price is around Rs 75 to 80 per kg while wholesale prices are around Rs 6,000 per quintal.

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Onion prices have been at an all-time high as a dip in production hit supplies in the markets. Since September, onion prices have been on the rise, with retail prices in cities like Pune and Mumbai crossing Rs 100 per kg.

Jaydutt Holkar, chairman of Lasalgaon wholesale market, pointed to the increased arrival of the new late kharif crop in the last few weeks, which has brought down the prices. Kharif arrivals, Holkar and other traders said, were late because of the delay in transplantation done in response to the heavy rain that hit the markets in September, and also destroyed nursery plantations.

Festive offer

At present, the Lasalgaon market is reporting arrivals of 15,000 to 20,000 quintals per day. “We expect the arrivals to improve further as more and more fields are harvested,” he said. Similarly, Suresh Deshmukh, another commission agent operating out of the Dindori wholesale market in Nashik, said the present price correction will continue in the days to come. “Imported onions have also contributed to the price drop,” he said.

On Tuesday, Cabinet minister Ram Vilas Paswan also stated that the country had a stock of 42,500 tonnes of imported onions, which will be distributed to the states as per their requirement. It could be noted here that the state-owned MMTC was mandated to import around 1 lakh tonnes of onions to ease out the price rise. Deshmukh ruled out any more imports coming into the markets, with the last few containers docking in the days to come.

First uploaded on: 01-01-2020 at 12:42 IST
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