Nizamabad: Onion price spikes on low supplies

Nizamabad: The souring prices of onions is bringing tears to the eyes of people during Dussehra festival and forcing the common people to think twice before buying in bulk.

The onion price has gone up by Rs 12 per kg during the week as the yield drastically fell due to continuous heavy rains.

Nizamabad and Kamareddy districts will import onions from Maharashtra and Karnataka States during September, October and November.

In Karnataka and Rajasthan, onion crop was damaged due to rains while the crop was damaged in Nashik, Ahmednagar, Pune, Dhule and Sholapur districts in Maharashtra and Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh with pest infestation.

According to market sources, onion prices will continue to compete with petrol prices till October month end.

On Thursday, the rate of white onions increased to Rs 52 per kg against Rs 15 or Rs 20 on normal days in Nizamabad. In Maharashtra, the largest producer of onions, the wholesale market price ranges from Rs 40 to Rs 45 per kg. Traders said the onion transportation charges have increased by Rs 9 per kg. This shoot up the onion rates to Rs 49 in Nizamabad wholesale market and Rs 52 in retail market. Second grade red onions are being sold at Rs 35 to Rs 40 per kg.

Traders observed the situation will continue till new yield comes to Maharashtra markets by October month end.

Local traders said normally Nizamabad gets five to six onion loaded lorries from Maharashtra per day. But now three to four lorries only were coming due to price hike.