Vegetable price soars: Price of onions and potatoes hit the roof

Price of onions have gone up by over 30 per cent in last two days in Hyderabad, the major reason behind the rise in price is the scarcity of the crop. Major part of the onion stock arrives from Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh into Hyderabad. Best variety of onions ranged from Rs 1,500-2,000 per quintal couple of days ago; it’s now around Rs 2,300 a quintal. Traders say unseasonal rains spoiled the crop.

The price of potato has also alarmingly jumped up at different markets in the country. The price has increased by 16 to 18 per cent at markets varying from Rs 1,720 per quintal and Rs 1,850 a quintal.

Many reasons summed up to this price hike.

“Hailstorms have spoiled the crop which has mainly resulted in the price hike,” says a farmer.

“Farmers are on strike which has lead to shortage of supply in the market. Since we have limited quantity of the crop, we have no option but to increase the price. The rates are nowhere to go down till farmers end their strike,” says a vegetable vendor.

“If the price of onions further shoots up, we will have to cut down on our food consumption,” says a worried housewife.

Wholesale and retail price shoot up

The difference between the wholesale and retail price of vegetables for 2013-14 has also gone up beyond 49 per cent.

“In the process, the worst hit remained farmers and consumers.

The former’s margins were squeezed badly, and the latter paid unreasonably higher prices,” said a study conducted by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

The study considered nearly 33 market centres in India, including Abohar, Agra, Ahmadabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Baraut, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Dehradun, Delhi, Gangatok, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Kanpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nashik, Patna, Pimpalgaon, Pune, Raipur, Ranchi, Shimla, Surat and Thiruvananthapuram.

It was revealed that most of the centres have recorded huge discrimination between the wholesale and retail price. It added that out of the 33 centres, nearly 18 centres are charging more than the all-India average wholesale and retail price.

The retail rates are over and above 85 per cent to the wholesale price.

“The essential vegetables incorporated in the paper are bitter gourd, brinjal (long), brinjal (round), cabbage, cauliflower, garlic, ginger, chilly, okra, onion, peas, potato (fresh), potato store, tomato (hybrid and local),” the study stated.