Onion prices surge by 60% in two weeks

The average wholesale price of onions has seen a spike close to 60 per cent in the last fortnight at the Lasalgaon APMC, which serves as the benchmark, The Economic Times reported. There has been an 18 per cent rise in the past week.

On Wednesday, the maximum price for the best quality onion hit Rs 50/kg in Delhi as well as in some Maharashtra markets.

Onion prices are expected to see a rise till December when the new kharif crop is expected to hit markets after a nearly two-month delay. The declining number of onions coming to markets is the primary reason behind the price hike.

"The average price of onions in Ahmednagar market has increased from about Rs 35/kg about around 10 days ago to Rs 45/kg now", ET reported Nandkumar Shirke, chairperson of the Association of Onion Traders of Ahmednagar District saying.

Average wholesale prices in most of Maharashtra's onion-growing districts are now between Rs 45-48/kg. On Tuesday, the average onion price at the Lasalgaon market was Rs 38/kg which is a 58 per cent spike from the Rs 24/kg it cost a fortnight ago.

The Modi government had imposed a 40 per cent duty on exporting onions on August 25 when prices started to rise on the back of delayed and lower sowing of the kharif crop. To suppress market rates, the government started selling Nafed-procured onions in the wholesale market below the prevailing rate.

Shirke continued, "The arrival of the stored onions has declined by about 40 per cent during the last fortnight, from around 400 vehicles per day of 10 tonnes capacity each to around 250 vehicles. The prices are likely to stay firm as the arrival of new red onions from the kharif season would be delayed by about two months."

ET citing senior trader sources saying the southern states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have seen low sowing of onion kharif crops since farmers suffered losses in the last two years. Since these states saw below-normal rainfall, the harvest was further reduced.

India will now get the new harvest of kharif onions from Rajasthan but the publication cited a trader, who wished to remain anonymous, saying that even in Rajasthan the expected crop is less than 40 per cent.