Onion bringing tears, this time for a longer period

The wholesale prices of onions in the benchmark Lasalgaon trading hub is hovering over Rs 5,550 per quintal and will surpass all-time high in the days to come.

In the Lasalgaon Agricultural Produced Market Committee (APMC), in Nashik district, the red bulbs were traded at an average of Rs 5,000 plus for the last week.

On Tuesday, it touched Rs 5,551.

The all-time high of onions in Lasalgaon, the biggest onion trading centre in Asia, was Rs 5,700 recorded on August 22, 2015.

Leading commodities and agriculture sector analyst Deepak Chavan said that the short-term, medium-term and long-term perspectives are not good and mainly climate has contributed to this situation.

"There is a huge gap... The pan-India is 65,000 tonnes per day while the traded quantity now in Lasalgaon averages 32,000 tonnes," he said, adding that there was a drought-like situation followed by heavy spells of rain and now there is unseasonal rain.

Chavan said that in the short term, in November-December, it's going to be more or less like this.

"The Kharif has been affected and in retail market in Delhi it has already touched Rs 100 per kg," he said, adding that during the winter months of November-December, the demand of onions peaks up as it is directly related to non-vegetarian consumption.

"As regards January-March, when the late Kharif would be available, nothing cannot be predicted as the western Indian coast are witnessing back to back cyclone," he said, on medium-term perspective.

As regards to long-term, he said that Rabi projections are not good.

"The reports from nurseries that would be replanted for March-May is not good," he said.