Chennai: Onion price brings tears to consumers

 

Onion produce from northern and western parts of Maharashtra, which constitutes 80 percent of the arrival to the Chennai market, has been affected by crop failure due to the late arrival of the monsoon.

 

In 2013, the price index peaked at Rs 45 per kg and in 2014 it touched Rs 50 per kg in August. In July 2014, 120 trucks arrived at the Koyambedu market, this year this has reduced to 55 trucks. “There is a considerable drop in the number of buyers for the past ten days due to the rise in prices and we are told that the trend will remain for some more time,” said P.Latha, a retailer at the Koyambedu market. “We have decided to keep off from the big onions for the time being and are only buying the smaller sambar vengayam that is half the price of the bigger Nashik onions,” said a housewife who is a regular buyer at the central market.

 

On Wednesday, the wholesale price of onion at the Lasalgaon market in Nashik, the country’s largest wholesale onion market was Rs 48 per kilogram, a 30 percent rise from July. Traders 

and market analysts attribute the reason to the sudden rise of excess heat, the late arrival of the monsoon, and late sowing, which led to the delay of the crop.

 

Meanwhile, officials from the Agri-Met department in Pune maintain that the monsoon is set to regain in a month after which production is likely to pick up. “This year, the monsoon arrived late and moreover there was a 50 per cent dip in the rains that led to the dip in production of onions in the west and northern parts of Maharashtra,” said S.V Jadhav, technical officer at Agri-Met, Pune.