| While the government may be satisfied to see inflation falling to a 16-month low at 3.79 per cent, the common man is unhappy with the high prices of onion, an everyday household commodity. |
| Onion price is currently ruling at Rs 1,300-1,600 a quintal at the wholesale level and Rs 20-24 a kg at the retail level. "The quality of the new crop arriving in mandis has been impacted due to the rain. This has kept prices at high levels. If Maharashtra and Karnataka see more rains, prices would continue to remain high. But if there are no more rains, prices are expected to decline in another 10-15 days," said Rajinder Sharma, general secretary of Potato and Onion Merchants' Association, Delhi. |
| Onion prices have not yet cooled down despite the government's move to make exports unattractive by hiking its minimum export price (MEP) from $345 to a record $445 a tonne with effect from August 20. |
| In the April-August period of the current year, 3.43 lakh tonnes of onion worth Rs 428 crore was exported compared with 5.03 lakh tonnes (Rs 395 crore) in the year-ago period. Total exports in 2006-07 stood at 11.61 lakh tonnes. |
| According to National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF), this year's kharif crop of onion is estimated at 17 lakh tonnes, up 30 per cent from last year. |
| "We fail to understand why onion prices continue to rule high despite good arrivals of the fresh crop at mandis. It appears that prices are being kept at artificially high levels in mandis itself. However, it cannot be sustained and prices will soften with the pressure of fresh arrivals," said NHRDF Director R P Gupta. |
| TRADERS CRY |
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