Onion prices continued to slide gradually towards their normal prices all through January, as a new crop of the bulb arrived in the wholesale markets across the country. The arrival of imported bulbs also had some dampening effect on the prices, though they were not too popular with consumers.
The retail prices of onions had fallen below ₹50/kg in a large number of centres by Thursday, January 30, data on the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) website show. Aizawl in Mizoram, Ambikapur in Chhattisgarh and Kharagpur in West Bengal continued to be the outliers, with a kilo of onions retailing at a steady rate of ₹140, ₹120 and ₹100, respectively, all through the month.
It may be recalled that the retail prices had peaked in December, climbing as high as ₹180/kg, affected by supply disruptions. Supply was hit by the destruction of the crop in many parts of the country due to excessive rains and delayed departure of the south-west monsoon.
The all-India modal price of the bulb rose from ₹80/kg early-December to ₹100/kg by the month-end. The bulbs were reported to be the most expensive in remote centres such as Mayabunder and Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, during most of December. The average retail prices have cooled in these places only over the past 10 days.
The retail prices now look set to crash to a level of ₹20/kg, as the country is expecting bumper production. The First Advance Estimates for Horticulture, released by the Agriculture Ministry on Monday, had projected onion production in the current crop year at 24.45 million tonnes (mt), up about 7 per cent compared to the 2018-19 output.
Meanwhile, there are no takers for the onions imported from countries such as Turkey and Egypt for several reasons. They came in a little too late, around the time the new domestic crop had started arriving in the market. While there was some demand for these bulbs initially, consumers did not take a liking to them as they lacked the sharp pungency that Indian palates were accustomed to. It also did not help that the price difference between the imported and domestic varieties had narrowed. As a result, containers of onions are rotting at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust.
Thursday’s update
Mangaluru, Dehradun and Ernakulum saw the average retail price of onions decline by ₹11-15/kg from Wednesday’s rates to retail at ₹43/kg, ₹42/kg and ₹40/kg, respectively, on Thursday, according to data on the DCA website. Centres such as Palakkad, Dharmapuri, Vellore, Kurnool, Delhi, Jeypore and Tirupati also saw prices fall by ₹2-5/kg. Rates in most other centres remained unchanged on Thursday.
The all-India minimum and maximum prices of the bulb also stayed the same, at ₹30/kg and ₹140/kg, respectively, on Thursday.
Zone-wise data
Here’s a look at how prices varied within zones on Thursday.
In the North, onions were the most expensive in Shimla, priced at ₹65/kg, whereas the commodity was the most affordable in Kanpur, at ₹30/kg.
In the West, while Ambikapur sold the commodity at ₹120/kg, cities like Jaipur sold it at ₹30/kg.
In the East, prices were the highest in Kharagpur, at ₹100/kg, whereas in Cuttack, it was relatively reasonable at ₹40/kg.
In the North-East, while cities like Aizawl sold the bulb at ₹140/kg, it was only ₹50/kg in Guwahati.
In the South, onions were most expensive in Mayabunder, Andaman, at ₹90/kg, and cheapest in Hyderabad, where it cost only ₹30/kg.
Here's a round-up of the top five cities with the highest and lowest prices on Thursday, January 30.