Onion prices calm but turmoil not ruled out later

Experts are not ruling out prices rising as sowing of kharif is expected to be lower

Onion prices have been in check over recent weeks, helped by government action in discouraging export ad threatening hoarders. However, worries remain.

Experts do not rule out prices rising, since kharif sowing is expected to be lower and cold storage stock entering the market might not be enough to meet the demand if there is a shortfall in the months to come.

In the first week of July, the price quoted was Rs 21 a kg at the big Lasalgaon (near Nashik, Maharashtra) wholesale market. It was Rs 16.25 a kg on Tuesday.

The government had asked National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India to import 70,000 tonnes. However, said an official in the know, the current price in wholesale mandis was nearly 20 per cent lower than the price abroad and, hence, imports were currently not happening. However, the good thing, he said, “is the preparedness to import if prices spiral”.

Cold storage stock is presently enough to meet demand for a month to six weeks. Prices in wholesale markets have moderated as this stock is coming to the market.

However, says R P Gupta, director, National Horticulture Research and Development Foundation: “While prices have moderated on continuous supply coming in, sowing for kharif is expected to be lower and that crop will come to the market sometime in October. Any disruption could jeopardise demand-supply equations.”

India last year produced 19.3 million tonnes and sowing took place in 1.2 mn hectares.Around 30 per cent of the sowing takes place in kharif; the rest is late kharif and rabi.