NASHIK: Onion prices at the country's largest wholesale market at Lasalgaon, near Nashik, have shot up by 52.17% in the last one month, triggering a hike in rates at the local retail markets as well. The average wholesale onion prices at the Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) in the district have gone up from Rs 1,225 per quintal last month, to Rs 1,750 per quintal on Thursday.
In the retail market in Nashik, on Thursday, good quality onion was being sold at Rs 25 per kg against Rs 15 per kg, a month ago.
Market officials said that the prices could go up to Rs 2,000 per quintal in the next fortnight if the demand from other parts of the country increases. Currently, onions from Lasalgaon are being supplied to West Bengal, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and being exported to Malaysia, Dubai and Bangladesh.
They blamed the decline in the supply of the crop over the last month and increase in demand in the domestic market for the price rise. The market on an average receives close to 15,000 to 20,000 quintals of onion a day, which has now declined to 9,000 to 11,000 quintals a day.
Speaking to TOI, a senior official from Lasalgaon APMC said, "The supply of onions from adjoining states of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan has decreased, while the demand for onion from Bangladesh has increased. This has led to the rise in the wholesale prices of onions in the wholesale market in the past one month."
The current produce reaching the market is the summer crop, which was harvested in April and May. As the shelf life of the summer crop is around seven to eight months, the farmers having storage capacity are storing onions with a hope of getting better prices. The official said that the summer crop will continue to arrive in the market until the arrival of Kharif crop, which is harvested in November.
In the past, onion prices had shot up in 2010 as the production in Kharif season was badly affected because of bad weather and unseasonal rains. In December 2010, average wholesale onion prices had reached around Rs 3,800 a quintal.
With an aim to control the price rise, the central government had imposed a ban on exporting onions on 20 December 2010. But, by the time government imposed ban on export, the summer crop stored by traders and farmers had already been exported. As a result, the Central government was compelled to import onion from the neighbouring countries like Pakistan and Bangaladesh to control the scarcity of crop.
Source:-timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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