The price of onions started to fall in Madurai on Wednesday. However, wholesalers said that this drop in price may not be linked to the import of Egyptian and Turkish onions.
In the last two days, imported onions had made their way into Paravai market and tonnes into the onion market in Nelpettai but wholesalers maintained that a large number of those procuring these onions are hoteliers. Around 600 tonnes have arrived in the city — a little lesser than the usual amount that is purchased.
A trader at Nelpettai’s market, S. Sundar, said that the size of the onions are far too large for the Indian public and the price variation is not drastically different from those available from India. “The Egytian onions cost ₹110 per kg while our onions are being sold between ₹70 and ₹100 based on whether they have been stored or are farm-fresh,” he said.
According to him, the prices will continue to drop towards the end of the month and would stabilise by Pongal so long as it does not rain in Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat, where they are cultivated.
“Most of our onions arrive from these pockets. We have seen prices dropping in the last two days. It will surely become cheaper soon,” he said. S. Uma, who sells onions, small onions and garlic at the Mattuthavani vegetable market, said that there has been meagre sales over the last two days. “People who usually buy a kg of onions now only purchase half the quantity. However, in the last two days, since people are confident of prices falling have not bought any onions,” she said.
The growing confidence among the public is adversely affecting sales of a perishable item, she added. “The older onions taste better and are hence priced higher at ₹170 per kg,” said the vendor who makes a margin of about ₹10 for each kg.
Retailer S. Selvaraj said that people are barely buying small onions as it is priced at ₹180 per kg. “We hope that the situation makes a turn around soon or else we would have a lot of perished goods,” he said.
