Wholesale onion prices fall by Rs 5/kg in Delhi

Wholesale onion prices today fell by Rs 5 per kg in Delhi's Azadpur market to Rs 35-40 per kg due to substantial increase in supplies and the declined is expected to cool down the retail rates as well.

There has been a decline of Rs 20 per kg in the wholesale prices over the last few days. At the retail level, prices have come down to Rs 60 per kg while Mother Dairy and Nafed are selling onions at about Rs 50 per kg.

"Prices have come down due to sudden increase in supply. Today, there was around 30 per cent increase in arrivals of onion," said Onion Merchant Traders Association President Surendra Budhiraj, adding that the prices would drop further in the coming days as arrivals are increasing.

Onion supplies to the city, which come from Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, were around 17,000 tonnes today against normal supply at 12,000 quintals, Budhiraj said.

Moreover, he noted that demand has been affected on account of high retail prices.

At Lasalgaon mandi in Nashik district, prices have eased by Rs 5 per kg to Rs 30-35 per kg, according to the data compiled by the National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation.

To control rising prices, the government had imposed a minimum export price (MEP) of USD 650 per tonne and had directed cooperative major NAFED to import onions.

Nafed may float a tender this week for importing onions to boost domestic supplies.

India has exported 6.39 lakh tonnes during the April-July period of this fiscal, compared with 6.94 lakh tonnes in the year-ago period. Production stood at 16.6 million tonnes in 2012-13.