While consumers in the national capital heaved a sigh of relief with the easing of prices of onion and tomato, they continue to feel the pinch due to skyrocketing rates of garlic, which is ruling at Rs 300 a kg in retail.
Price of garlic is hovering around Rs 250-300 per kg in the national capital in retail for the past over 1.5 months, traders said.
They said consumers have to wait for another fortnight for the cost of the bulb to start coming down with arrival of fresh produce from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.
"New garlic crop will start coming in the markets in the national capital after February 15," Vice-President of Azadpur market based Garlic Merchants Association, Jitendra Khurana said.
Garlic is used for flavouring various dishes and is also used as an important ingredient in Ayurvedic medicines.
An important bulb crop, garlic is selling at Rs 120-170 a kg in the wholesale, Khurana added. He said Azadpur (Asia's biggest fruits & vegetables wholesale market) is witnessing almost 50 per cent shortage in supply of garlic nowdays, which has pushed up its prices.
"Against a daily requirement of about 90 tonnes of garlic, Azadpur market is getting around 45 tonnes of the produce now," Khurana, himself in the garlic trade for over two decades, added.
He attributed the paucity to drop in production to the tune of 30 per cent in 2010 in the bulk producing states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh mainly due to unseasonal rains.
Garlic Merchants Association President Surendra Budhi Raj pointed to large-scale export of garlic to Pakistan in mid-2010 which had also contributed to the short supply.
"Heavy export of garlic to Pakistan between April and June this year (2010) has resulted in shortage of the spice in the domestic markets," Budhi Raj said, adding many farmers had uprooted their crop prematurely to cash in the situation.
He said garlic export to the neighbouring country has stopped now as it's no more profitable with rise in prices back home itself. Although India ranks second in area (86,000 hectares) under garlic cultivation, it has the third position in production at 3,50,000 tonnes.
China ranks first in area and production of garlic.
Madhya Pradesh is the leading garlic producing state accounting for more than 35 per cent of area and 38 per cent of production.
India exports garlic to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Arabian countries. Garlic is sown in September-October and is harvested in February-March.
