Onion up by Rs 10/kg in Delhi; stable in other metros

Retail onion prices have increased by Rs 10 per kg to Rs 60 per kg in the national capital, but remained stable in other three metros at Rs 40-65 per kg.

In Delhi, onion prices have increased to Rs 50-60 per kg from Rs 40-50 per kg, following the rise in the wholesale prices in last few days. Through its nearly 400 outlets in the NCR, Mother Dairy is selling onion at Rs 45-47 per kg.

Traders at Azadpur market said that prices would decline only after fresh arrivals from Maharashtra and Gujarat, which is expected to start from the middle of this month.

After dropping to Rs 35 a kg on December 24 at Azadpur market in the national capital from Rs 55 per kg on December 20, the wholesale prices have again risen to Rs 45/kg.

To provide relief to consumers, the Delhi government is planning to sell about 300 tonnes of onion imported by the state-trading agencies STC and PEC through Mother Dairy, Kendriya Bhandar, National Consumers Co-operative Federation (NCCF).

"(The) Delhi government has directed Nafed to make arrangements for storage of onion being imported from Pakistan by STC for distribution in Delhi through Kendriya Bhandar, NCCF & Mother Dairy," agri co-operative Nafed said in a statement.

In other metros, retail prices remained unchanged. In Kolkata, onion is being sold at Rs 40-50/kg, while in Chennai, it was available at Rs 60-65/kg and in Mumbai at Rs 50/kg. In Chandigarh, the retail onion prices stands at Rs 40-50/kg.

Onion prices had surged to Rs 70-85 per kg across the country on December 20 due to damage to crops in Maharashtra because of rains, forcing the governmnet to ban exports and abolish import duty.

Private traders have been importing onion from Pakistan since December 21. Later, the government decided to allow state trading agencies PEC and STC to import 1,000 kg of onion from Pakistan.

Till date, over 5,000 tonnes of onion have been imported from Pakistan by road through Amritsar.

The Jawarhalal Nehru Port Trust authorities have also given assurance that over 200 tonnes of onion imported from Pakistan lying in the port area in Mumbai since December 29 will be cleared by this evening or tomorrow at the latest.

Meanwhile, wholesale prices of onion today dipped by Rs 9 per kg to Rs 41 per kg in Lasalgaon on higher supply, but remained stable at Rs 43 per kg in Pimpalgaon. In Delhi's Azadpur market, it rose by Rs 2 per kg to Rs 45 per kg.  

Lasalgaon and Pimpalgaon in Nashik district are the two major onion producing region in Maharashtra, which along with Karnataka, accounts for 40 per cent of the country's total production of 12 million tonnes.