Know your onions: Buyers left teary eyed as prices surge to Rs 200 a kilo

Onion prices continued to rise in many cities across the country, with residents in cities like Madurai and Bengaluru paying a whopping Rs 200 per kg. Pinching consumers' pockets hard, retail onion prices have surpassed the Rs 100 per kg mark in most cities across the country.

The key kitchen staple was quoting high in the tier II and tier III cities as well. Onion prices have been high for past few weeks due to fall in production of the Kharif crop following unseasonal rainfall in key growing states, including Maharashtra.

While the aveage price of onion is Rs 140 in Bengaluru, it shot up to a whopping Rs 200 per kg due to severe short supply in the market. Same is the case in Coimbatore.

"Onion price touched Rs 200 per kg in some retail shops of Bengaluru, after its wholesale rate ranged between Rs 5,500 and Rs 14,000 per quintal," state agricultural marketing officer Siddagangaiah said.

The average modal price of onion in the retail markets was ruling at Rs 100/kg according to the department of Consumer Affairs, while the maximum rate was ruling at Rs 165 per kg in Panaji on Sunday, the data showed.

In most cities, onion was quoting above Rs 100/kg in the retail markets, while at Nashik in Maharashtra -- the key producing centre -- the rates were ruling at Rs 79/kg 

"There is no doubt onion prices are rising. The main reason for rise in price was damage to the onion crop due to rains. Much of onion has been damaged in Maharasthra, the key growing state. However, the government has supplied buffer stock and asked MMTC to import onions and it should arrive by January 20," Minister of State for Consumer Affairs Danve Raosaheb Dadarao said during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

Take a look at how much you will have to pay for onion in different cities

Cities with highest onion price	Price per kg
Panaji (Goa)

Rs 165

Kozhikode (Kerala)

Rs 160

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala)

Rs 160

Wayanad (Kerala)

Rs 160 Mayabunder (Andaman)  Rs 150

Onions continued to be most affordable in Jhansi

Cities with lowest onion prices	Price per kg
Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh)

Rs 43

Ambikapur (Chhattisgarh)

Rs 50

Sagar (Madhya Pradesh)

Rs 50

Rampurhat (West Bengal)

Rs 50 Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh) Rs 55

Onion prices across India (from lowest to highest)

North Zone	Price per kg
Jhansi

Rs 43 Kanpur Rs 65 Solan Rs 70

Allahabad

Rs 75 Agra Rs 80 Dharamshala Rs 80 Karnal Rs 85 Chandigarh Rs 85 Amritsar Rs 90 Haldwani Rs 90 Panchkula Rs 90 Srinagar Rs 90 Varanasi Rs 92 Bathinda Rs 92

Delhi

Rs 98 Dehradun Rs 100 Gorakhpur Rs 100 Haridwar Rs 100 Hisar Rs 100 Jammu Rs 100

Ludhiana

Rs 100 Mandi Rs 100 Rudrapur Rs 100 Shimla Rs 100

Gurgaon

Rs 120 Lucknow Rs 120 Meerut Rs 120

West zone	Price per kg
Ambikapur

Rs 50 Gwalior Rs 55 Sagar Rs 50 Ahmedabad Rs 90 Bhuj Rs 60 Indore Rs 63 Jaipur Rs 70 Rewa Rs 70 Durg Rs 70 Rajkot Rs 75 Jabalpur Rs 72 Nashik Rs 79 Bhopal Rs 85 Pune Rs 87 Nagpur Rs 88 Surat Rs 98 Raipur Rs 100 Jagdalpur Rs 120 Mumbai Rs 120 Panaji Rs 165

East Zone	Price per kg
Muzzafarpur

85 Purnia 85 Patna Rs 90 Kharagpur Rs 100 Ranchi Rs 100 Malda Rs 105 Darbhanga Rs 110 Jeypore Rs 110 Purulia Rs 120 Rourkela Rs 120 Sambalpur Rs 120 Balasore Rs 120 Berhampur Rs 120 Bhubaneshwar Rs 130 Cuttack Rs 130 Kolkata Rs 140

North-East Zone

Price per kg Guwahati Rs 96

Itanagar

Rs 100

Agartala

Rs 120

South Zone	Price per kg
Hyderabad

Rs 75 Warangal Rs 80 Adilabad Rs 80 Jadcherla Rs 83 Karimnagar Rs 85 Kurnool Rs 85 Bengaluru Rs 140 Chennai Rs 138 Coimbatore Rs 125

Cuddalore

Rs 120 Dharmapuri Rs 130 Dharwad Rs 110 Dindigul Rs 140 Ernakulam Rs 150 Vijaywada Rs 90 Mysore Rs 102 Visakhapatnam Rs 105 Suryapet Rs 115 Tirunelveli Rs 125 Vellore Rs 134 Puducherry Rs 135 Port Blair Rs 140

Palakkad: Rs 140

Rs 140 Thiruchirapalli Rs 140 Mangalore Rs 149 Thrissur Rs 150 Mayabunder Rs 150 Wayanad Rs 155 Kozhikode Rs 160 T.Puram Rs 160

The government has approved import of up to 1.2 lakh tonnes of onions to check the ongoing price rise. State-owned MMTC has been directed to import up to 1 lakh tonne onions through global and country-specific import tenders.

The average modal price of onion in the wholesale markets was ruling at Rs 9,000/quintal according to the department of Consumer Affairs, while the maximum rate was ruling at Rs 15,000 per quintal in Wayanad on Sunday, the data showed.

Cities with lowest wholesale onion price

Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh): Rs 3,500 per quintal (or Rs 35 per kg)

Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh): Rs 4,200 per quintal (or Rs 42 per kg)

Ambikapur (Chhattisgarh): Rs 4,400 per quintal (or Rs 44 per kg)

Sagar (Madhya Pradesh): Rs 4,500 per quintal (or Rs 45 per kg)

Rampurhat (West Bengal): Rs 4,600 per quintal (or Rs 46 per kg)

Cities with highest wholesale onion price

Wayanad (Kerala): Rs 15,000 per quintal (or Rs 150 per kg)

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): Rs 14,898 per quintal (or Rs 149 per kg)

Kozhikode (Kerala): Rs 14,000 per quintal (or Rs 140 per kg)

Mayabunder (Andaman): Rs 13,333 per quintal (or Rs 133 per kg)

Panaji (Goa): Rs 12,500 per quintal (or Rs 125 per kg)