 "Onion")
The wholesale price of onions at Asia's largest wholesale market for fruits and vegetables, Azadpur, Delhi, has plunged to Rs 30-40 per kg as compared to 60-65 per kg last week.
Mandi traders believe that it happened due to government intervention in the Minimum Export Price (MEP) of $800 per tonne on October 28. The MEP roughly equates to Rs 67 per kg.
However, there is no relief for consumers in the national capital as the retail onion price remained elevated at around Rs 78 per kg as of November 1. Two weeks ago, the price was around Rs 40 per kg.
The onion price shoots up soon after the Navratri festival ends on October 24. Till the price was around Rs 35-40 per kg. The price is expected to remain high throughout the festive season. However, the government is adamant about not letting the price touch Rs 100 per kg.
The government is selling onions at subsidised rates
A top official aware of the matter said that the Union government has started selling onions to consumers at a subsidised rate of Rs 25 per kg in over dozen cities to make the item affordable and curb the price by boosting availability.
Lower supplies due to delayed harvests of the summer crop have boosted onion prices for the second time in the last six months, driving the government to impose a minimum export price (MEP) $800 a tonne. MEP is a threshold price below which exporters can't sell to buyers. It aims to limit overseas shipments.
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The two state-backed food agencies launched operations to sell onion at subsidised prices from the ministry's reserves of 500,000 tonnes in food vans in several cities like Delhi, Jaipur, Bikaner, Jalandhar, Bhopal, Kota and Hyderabad.
The government official said, “Prices have started to come down and will come down further due to the imposition of minimum export prices and sale of cheap onions by the government.”
