New Delhi   

Onion prices up due to shortage of supplies

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Contrary to the official claims, onion prices in retail touched Rs 20 per kg in Delhi, bringing back memories of the 1998 crisis in the minds of most residents. However, wholesale traders insist the price, which is around Rs 15 in the wholesale market due to paucity of supply from the flood-ravaged Kolhapur and Dhulia districts of Maharastra, would firm up to around Rs 20 per kg before it comes down in the wake of arrivals from other areas.

The rise in the prices has been due to the flooding of those districts in Maharashtra from where onions used to come in August end and September. "The supplies from Kolhapur and Dhulia have dwindled and as against the daily expected arrival of 15 trucks, we had only been getting one or two trucks in the recent past,'' said Rajinder Sharma, a wholesale onion dealer.

With these two districts sending the first supplies after the rainy season, Mr Sharma said, the shortage was being felt all over north India. Also, the quality of the onion coming in had deteriorated. But of late, the supplies had started improving and while three trucks were received on Wednesday, six arrived at the Delhi wholesale markets on Thursday, he said.

Due to the short supply, the wholesale price of onion had increased from around Rs 8-Rs 10 per kg to Rs 10-Rs 15 per kg depending on the quality of the produce. Mr Sharma was however confident that the prices would not go up much and the crisis of 1998 was definitely not on the cards. "The problem then was that the rains had continued till October and supplies from different parts of the country had got affected. This time the rains have already stopped and so the prospects of supplies from other areas are good. Moreover, if the delay would get longer, more and more stocked onion would be released and farmers would also cut small onions and bring them into the market.''

Already, Mr Sharma said about 85 to 90 trucks of stocked onion were being released every day to check the prices. But he rued that the Government machinery had failed to inform people about the delivery schedule as a result of which there was a slight sense of panic in the market.

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