ONION PRICES...............

Onion prices likely to rise again post September

 

The prices of onion that skyrocketed following a shortage have been somewhat brought under control through imports but they look likely to rise again after September because of a reduction in area under onion cultivation in the state because of the prevailing drought-like conditions.

The late kharif crop onion crop in Maharashtra is confined mainly to districts including Nashik (42,450.3 ha), Pune (9210 ha), Ahmednagar (17,688 ha) Satara (5,640 ha) and Jalgaon (3,135.7 ha). has taken a toll with almost all areas witnessing a reduction in area under onion cultivation.
The poor monsoon in these areas is being attributed to the decline in crop area.
Area under onion as of last week of August was 10,706 ha in Nashik, 2,990 ha in Pune, 1285 ha in Jalgaon, 2397.5 ha in Satara and 8,051 ha in Ahmednagar.
Late kharif is considered an important season for onions, and the yield hits the markets around the end of September or early October.
Nanasaheb Patil, Maharashtra member of Nafed and chairman of the Lasalgaon marketyard confirmed the drought effect. “The next few days are crucial for the crop. Without rains, the crops will be wasted creating a major crisis,” he said.
Onion prices this year skyrocketed due to low arrival of the produce in markets especially in Lasalgaon, the largest wholesale onion market in Asia. Although the prices have come down, retail and wholesale rates in many cities continue to be around Rs 50 per kg.

In view of the shortage, the government had increased Minimum Export Price (MEP) and floated tenders to import 10,000 metric tonnes of onion. Private traders started importing the bulb from Egypt, Afghanistan and other countries. Around 50-60 containers of onions will be docking in the ports of Mumbai by this week while around 5-6 trucks of onions from Afghanistan have been arriving daily in Azadpur market in Delhi. Traders said talks are on with China but the price is on the higher side. Nafed officials said that imported onions and the new produce especially from Karnataka might prevent escalation of prices in September, but in case of a crop failure, prices might rise in October.