Onion price eases by Rs 50 in Bengaluru market

Though onions prices have eased by around Rs 50 per kg, expensive prices in Karnataka are set to last for a few more days until the inventory bought at high cost gets extinguished, said an official on Wednesday.

"Onion arrivals from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Nashik and Egypt have eased onion prices in the state," state agricultural marketing officer Siddagangiah told IANS.

He said onion arrivals on Wednesday are lesser than Monday and Tuesday in Karnataka and the prevailing high prices will continue for at least a week.

"Retail price will be the same because the newly arrived cheaper onions will take two to three days to reach the retail vendors," he said.

Though the earlier estimates projected onions crisis to continue till mid-January, Siddgangaiah said the increasing arrivals have eased the predicament.

On Wednesday, the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) yards received only 24,000 quintals of onions across the state, lesser than on Monday and Tuesday.

On Monday, Karnataka received 40,000 quintals of onions, Tuesday 38,000 quintals and 24,000 quintals on Wednesday, said Siddagangaiah.

On Wednesday, the bulb`s price at APMC ranged between Rs 4,000 to 10,000 per quintal in Karnataka and Pune variety onions which are in bigger size ruled at Rs 8,750 per quintal.

Siddagangiah said low quality onion is also fetching a price of Rs 6,000 per quintal but of very bad quality.

In Bengaluru city, onion prices at APMC ranged between Rs 6,000 and 7,000 and Pune variety between Rs 8,000 and 9,500.

"Onions between 20 to 30 mm size are retailing at Rs 100 for a kg and a half and Pune variety above Rs 130 per kg," he said.

Bengaluru APMC received 19,984 quintals of onions on Wednesday and 1,052 quintals of Pune variety onions.

In the first week of December, price of 1 kg onions touched Rs 200 in Bengaluru as heavy rains destroyed onion harvest in many states.

India has an annual onion requirement of 150 lakh metric tonnes, with Karnataka chipping in with onion production of 20.19 lakh metric tonnes.

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Almost 50 per cent of the onion production gets lost after factoring in crop loss and post-harvest loss, leaving only the balance to arrive in the market.

In November, Karnataka markets received 60-70 quintals of onion a day, which fell by 50 per cent in December, leading to the crisis.

Aiming to increase the availability of onion, the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) has issued a circular that onion trade should continue even on holidays.