With the arrival of new crop in the wholesale market, onion prices on Monday fell by Rs. 10 per kg to Rs. 60-70 per kg in retail markets in the national capital.
In the coming weeks prices are expected to further cool down as new crop from Karnataka has started coming into the market. According to National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation data, arrival of onion at Bangalore wholesale market has increased by 50 per cent to 76,266 quintals on Monday over the last week’s level.
Prices of the kitchen staple have also declined as onion from Afghanistan via Wagah border have started coming into the market, traders added.
“Supplies have improved as the new crop from Bangalore Mandi is coming in to the Azadpur Mandi, which has brought the prices down by Rs. 10 per kg to Rs. 45-50 per kg,” Onion Merchant Traders Association President Surendra Budhiraj said.
He added that supplies have increased by around 30 per cent from the last week, with around 12,000 quintals of onion arriving in the market today against last week’s average arrival of 9,000 quintals.
Meanwhile, Mother Dairy outlets, which are selling onions at Rs. 62-64 per kg, is also contemplating reducing prices from on after the fall in the prices at the wholesale market, an official said.
Traders also attributed the fall in wholesale onion prices to decline in prices in Lasalgaon Mandi in Nashik, which sets the price trend of the politically sensitive commodity across the country.
According to NHRDF data, onion prices at Lasalgaon in Nashik, decreased by Rs. 6 per kg to Rs. 41 per kg on Monday.
The government’s recent decision to hike the minimum export price (MEP) of onion to $900 per tonne from $650 per tonne has also pushed the prices downwards.
Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation had risen for the third straight month to 6.1 per cent in August, >driven by a whopping 244.62 per cent jump in onion prices on an annual basis.
