Onion prices rise, begin to bring tears to consumers

Malakpet: After a brief lull, the prices of onions in the city started soaring again, indicating a steep hike in the days to come. Onions, a staple food for almost all households, are presently up for the grab in the city markets at Rs 25 per kg with a slightest increase of Rs 5 as compared to the month of June when the price was stable at Rs 20 per kg.

The appreciation in prices by as much as Rs 5 per kilo is seen as a precursor of a steep price rise in the coming days. "Since the off-season has commenced in the markets and due to heavy rains, the prices are slowly moving up this month. The trend will continue for quite some time," said A Chandrashekhar, Secretary (Grade-I), Agriculture Market Committee, Malakpet.

"Presently", he said, "the wholesale prices are ruling between Rs 1,800 and Rs 2,000 in the market for general commodity, while the price for white onion – very rare to the market – is flatly Rs 3,000 per quintal.

The white-coloured onion is widely used for cooking in Nalgonda district besides neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh." In June this year, the price of onion in the market was Rs 20 per kilo and it was assumed that the prices were largely under control. However, the surge was set in motion by the seasonal change from this month, which has started impacting the prices.

The market is receiving less quantity of onions due to seasonal changes and rains that have started lashing the neighbouring states as well as parts of Telangana quite for some time. The climate change is said to be the reason behind the shortfall in production, and in turn, arrivals at the market, which threaten to push the prices up steeply in the coming weeks.

"The arrival of the commodity particularly from neighbouring states dropped in recent days owing to the seasonal change," added Chandrashekar. It may be mentioned here that India is the second largest producer of onion in the world, next only to China. However, the productivity of onion in India is very low i.e., 14.21 tonnes per hectare as compared to China and other countries like Egypt, Netherlands, and Iran, etc.

The major onion-producing states in the country are Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Telangana. Only Mahbubnagar, Nagarkarnool, Tandur and Shankerpally are the areas in Telangana State, where onion farming is being taken up by local farmers.