Onions: Supply up, rates down

With improved arrivals on Friday, Delhi’s mandis saw a buoyed trading in the onions and wholesale prices going south while retail prices continued to hover between R50 to R55 per kg across the city. HT reports.

With improved arrivals on Friday, Delhi’s mandis saw a buoyed trading in the onions and wholesale prices going south while retail prices continued to hover between R50 to R55 per kg across the city.

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The arrivals on Friday were 860 tonnes as against 450 tonnes on Thursday. “The increased quantity ensured that the wholesale prices went down compared to Thursday. The onions were traded in the range of R17.50 per kg to R42.50 per kg (best quality),” said Brahma Yadav, chairman, Delhi Agriculture Marketing Board.

Thursday’s wholesale rates ranged between R20 per kg to R50 per kg (best quality). With arrivals of fresh crop, the quality too is improving. “The crop that we are receiving is more from Gujarat and Maharashtra and less from Rajasthan. The quality of the fresh produce from Gujarat and Maharashtra is better than whatever was available during the last few weeks,” said Rajender Sharma, general secretary, Tomato and Onion Traders’ Association (TOMA).

Nafed counters continued to sell onions at R35 per kg while at Mother Dairy’s Safal and Kendriya Bhandar, the subsidised onions were available at R39 per kg. There are five outlets of Nafed and 13 of the National Cooperative Consum-ers’ Federation and their 15 mobile vans selling onions at R35 per kg.

Despite such market intervention measures by the government, private retail traders, especially vendors in several colonies, continued to sell onions at more than R60 per kg blaming the hike on the ‘less arrivals more demand’ factor.

Dolon Ray, a housewife from Mayur Vihar Phase 1, said, “On Thursday, retail vendors in my area were selling onion at R70 per kg. After reading newspaper reports that arrivals have improved and retail rates are going down, when I went this morning, the price was still at R70 per kg.”