'Onion prices to ease from last week of Jan in Bengal'

The price of onion in the retail market in West Bengal will ease to Rs 25-40 per kg depending on variety by the end of January from Rs 45-60 per kg now, an Agriculture Marketing Department official said today.

"Onion prices will begin to ease from last week of January, once the new crop hits markets. Loading of trucks will begin from mid-January, but impact on markets will be reflected from the last week of the month," agri-consultant to the Agriculture Marketing Department Shibu Malakar said.

Prices will decrease further and the retail price is expected to go down to Rs 14-20 per kg by March and wholesale to Rs 8-12 per kg, Malakar said.

He said normal consumption in four Kolkata markets is between 60 to 70 trucks (540-630 tonnes), but in the last few weeks arrival was between 20 to 24 trucks (180-210 tonnes) only.

Over and above this, there were unaccounted exports to Bangladesh. "Import is not sufficient to meet the demand shortfall. There were some imports from Pakistan after the Centre announced duty-free imports and banned exports," he said. 

Late rainfall damaged onions in Maharashtra and Gujarat this season, resulting into a sudden spurt in the commodity's prices across the country due to restricted supply.