Onions at Rs.5 per kg soon? Traders say so

NEW DELHI - Onions may sell for as low as Rs.5 per kg fom next week with the market set to be flooded with a new harvest, the Azadpur wholesale vegetable traders association here said Thursday.

“The new harvest begins after Lohri, so the wholesale market will be flooded with a huge amount of onions, due to which retailers can sell onions at Rs.5-10 per kg to buyers,” Ranjan Sharma, general secretary of the chamber of Azadpur fruit and vegetable traders, told IANS.

Prices of the humble onion had touched Rs.100 in some parts of India in the past month.

“Today we have sold around 400 tonnes to retailers. The onion price today is hovering between Rs.20-40 per kg,” said Sharma.

He said the price varied depending on the vegetable size, with the onions generally used in households being sold at Rs.30-35 per kg.

Wholesale onion traders were on strike for two days to protest raids by the income tax authorities to prevent hoarding, but they called it off Wednesday.

“The price is likely to go down in the next two to three days, as supply will increase daily. Today we had less stock due to two days’ strike,” he claimed.

On Wednesday, the traders had also met Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and called off their strike, which had began Tuesday afternoon, on the assurance that their premises would not be raided by the authorities.

“She asked us to procure as many onions as possible and sell them at reasonable rates to ease some pressure on prices. The situation is expected to come under control within a week,” Sharma added.

Onion prices shot up across the country after crops in Nashik in Maharashtra were spoilt due to untimely heavy rains.

The IT department last week conducted similar search operations in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and few other states.