Heavy rains in Karnataka disrupt onion supply; ripples in Maharashtra

The damage to the onion crop in Karnataka due to excessive rains in September has led to a rally in prices at Lasalgaon onion market in Maharashtra with the modal price rising by 52 per cent in the last six days.

On October 3, the price of the bulb at the Lasalgaon market was ₹1,610 per quintal (100 kg), which increased to ₹2,450 per quintal on Monday. Lasalgaon is Asia’s biggest market for onions.

Nitin Jain, a trader from Lasalgaon, told

BusinessLine that due to the decline in the supply of onions from Karnataka, the prices at the Lasalgaon market is on the rise.

In the last one week, the prices on an average have risen by ₹200 per day.

According to data from Agmarknet, a portal under the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, on October 3, the minimum prices stood at ₹700, while the maximum was ₹1,826 a quintal.

On Monday, it reached a minimum price of ₹1,200 and a maximum of ₹2,731/quintal.

Weather woes

Salim Byahatti, Director of Agriculture Produce Market Committee in Hubbali, Karnataka, said that this year the farmers in the State did not plant onions due to drought-like conditions. In the crucial months of June and July, there were inadequate rains and as a result, only 50 per cent of the average crop was in the fields.

Moreover, the massive rains in September damaged another 10-15 per cent of that 50 per cent crop resulting in waterlogging and fungus growth. In certain areas, it is the black soil, which prevents water from draining out fast, leading to further destruction of the crop, he said.

Byahatti said that at the Hubbali market arrivals of the bulb have been very slow with prices ranging from ₹2,000 to ₹2,500 per quintal.

Till Diwali, the market is expected to be on the rise with prices in the range of ₹2,800-3,200 a quintal.

Over the past one week, the prices of the bulb have gone up in other key markets of Maharashtra such as Pimpalgaon, Malegaon, Yeola and Niphad among others.

Other key markets

Wholesale prices are also up in markets of Bengaluru and Hubbali. The retail prices of onion have moved up to between ₹30 and ₹35 a kg in Mumbai as against around ₹25 about 10 days ago.

Onion prices in Nashik have been volatile since early July after reports of erratic rains had hit supplies from parts of Karnataka and Kurnool, while the excess rains shrunk the produce in Rajasthan and Gujarat.