Onion prices decline, but poor quality irks consumers

Hyderabad: Although the price of onions has come down, consumers are still unhappy because the bulbs are of poor quality. They are very tender and watery and take a long time to cook.

Onions are available at Rs 50per kilo now but they rot quickly, says Ms Vijaya, a householder from Balkampet. She says they have to be thrown away after only a day or two.

Dealers say prices could fall further. The major wholesale markets at Bowenpally and Malakpet are receiving truckloads of onions. Onion wholesaler Duggu Jagadish Kumar believes the price could fall to `10 per kilo. The problem is that this is a fresh crop and has not been left to age. Fresh onions don't taste as good and take longer to cook than those that have time to dry out, said Ms Lakshmi of Yousufguda.

Still, consumers who stayed off onions due to the high price or bought them in small quantities are happy that they can now add this staple to their meals even though they are of poor quality.

This doesn’t matter for businesses such as samosa and chat makers, but Chef Sundaram of a city hotel says a larger quantity of onions is needed to achieve the same taste so these inferior quality onions which also take longer to cook, are not the best option.

Onions are a source of energy and have very small amounts of fibre, foliates and vitamin C but cannot be treated as a source of any vitamins and minerals, says NIN scientist Subba Rao.

Nutritionist Sujatha Stephen says that poor quality onions do not differ in nutrition value but they must not be kept for long as they rot quickly.