Karnataka: After fuel, cooking oil, onion price set to scorch

Bengaluru: The cascading effect of this year's heavy rainfall has begun to take a toll. After scorching fuel, LPG and cooking oil prices, onions, too, are going out of reach of common man.

The trend is being attributed to a sudden fall in supply from north Karnataka and also the neighbouring States of Maharashtra and Gujarat owing to the heavy rainfall. As a result, according to sources in the wholesale market at Yeshwantpur, in the last fortnight the price of onion has shot up from Rs 20 to Rs 38 per kg. Traders warn that the price may go up further by Rs 6 more in the coming days.

The withdrawal of the southwest monsoon left a wet and miserable trail for millions of people in peninsular India. That spell of rains was an opportunity for speculators to make the hay and prices of the Indian kitchen's main staple, onion, have zoomed.

The retail price of onion in Bengaluru has shot up, an indicator of the things to come. "The older stock retails for about Rs 56 per kg while the newer arrival ranges between Rs 34-36 per kg. The newer arrivals are of inferior quality," explains Ramesh, an onion and potato dealer from Hiriyur. The newer arrivals have quite a fair quantity of damaged stock. Incessant rains have seen water seep into the soil which hits bulb formation and damages the crop, he said.

In major markets like Hubballi, for instance, the wholesale price of onion ranges between Rs 3,100 to 4,000 per quintal. The Rs 4,000 per quintal is for the big size variety of onion which is traded in the market, while the Rs 3,100 per quintal is for the price for the medium size variety. And small size variety gets around Rs 2,500 per quintal. Although there has been some damage to the crop in the State, the initial bout of rains in August caused more damage to the crop in Chitradurga and Belagavi districts.

Several onion farmers are holding back their stocks on the back of rising prices and would look at disposing of them later in the hope of realizing better prices. However, many have even thrown away the produce as they don't have proper storage facility. "Due to ongoing rains, our onion stock was damaged. We have put up temporary shed to store the stock, so that we can get a good price for it," said Vamshi, a farmer from Chitradurga.

Traders warn that onion prices that have gone up by Rs 8 per kg in the last fortnight will increase in coming days. Also the onion traders have cautioned that prices could spike from the second week of November onwards when the newer production is scheduled to arrive in the market.