Guntur: Onions become dearer at Rs 65 a kg

Guntur : Onions are being sold at Rs 65-a-kg in the wholesale market in Guntur city. The price is expected to touch Rs 75-a-kg within a few days due to increased demand and shortage of supply. In the rythu bazaars the vegetable vendors are selling the inferior quality of onions at Rs 58-a-kg. Even small size onions used in the sambar are being sold at Rs 40-a-kg.

The traders get onion stocks from Nashik, Sholapur in Maharashtra and sell in the local market. According to the wholesale onion traders, at present limited stocks of onions are available in Nashik and Solapur due to shortage of supply of onions.

There are no onion stocks in AP. As a result, the traders in the state are purchasing onions from Maharashtra and selling them in the local market. They are purchasing the onions at Rs 58-a-kg in Nashik and Sholapur and selling in the local market at Rs 65-a-kg.

If the same situation continues, the prices of onions are likely to increase in the days to come. Due to the increase of prices of onions, the consumers are worrying and purchase the onions at higher prices.

A wholesale trader CH Siva Krishna said, “Traders from Karnataka are also purchasing the onions from Maharashtra due to short supply and deficit rainfall. The onion farmers in Kurnool in the state had suffered heavy losses last year due to falling prices of onions.

They sell onions at Rs 5-a-kg to Rs 6-a-kg. The farmers who suffered heavy losses shifted to other crops, and the onion cultivation area had fallen by more than 90%. Due to deficit rainfall and adverse seasonal conditions, the farmers will get less onions yield at Kunta near Srisailam and Mothadaka in Guntur district. It will take at least 45 days to get new onions into the market.”

Another wholesale trader K Subba Rao said, “Good quality onions are available in Maharashtra. New crops will enter the market in Nashik, Sholapur, Pune, Ahmednagar in November last week or December first week.

Same situation will continue till the new crop enters into the market. If the farmers in Kurnool had cultivated onions, the situation would be different. Till October first week, we sold onions at Rs 20- a-kg to Rs 25-a-kg, small size onions were sold at six kgs per Rs 100. Due to short supply, onion prices jumped to Rs 65-a-kg.”