Retail onion prices to come down very shortly: official

Retail prices of onion are likely to come down very shortly following drastic fall of the commodity's wholesale rates, a senior government official said today.

"Wholesale prices are coming down. We are hopeful that there will be impact on retail prices very shortly," Consumer Affairs Secretary Rajiv Agarwal told PTI.

Declined to hazard any guess on what extent the retail price would go down and by when, Agarwal said that wholesale prices of onion at the Laselgaon mandi fell from 4,500-5,000 a tonne few days back to Rs 2,500-3,000 now.

At the Ahemadabad APMC, wholesale prices have also come down to Rs 3,000-4,000 per tonne now from Rs 3,500-5,000 a tonne earlier, he added.

"The difference between wholesale price and the retail price is always high. That is a high problem. It always takes some time for retail prices to come down. Retailers generally buy 5-6 days stock," Agarwal said.

NCCF has already approached the Tamil Nadu Government and informed the state that it is ready to sell medium-grade onion at Rs 25-30 a kg in the retail market, he said, adding that now, it is the Tamil Nadu government to take the call.

Agarwal said that the Maharashtra government has informed that private traders from the state have already contracted 10,000 tonnes of onion from Pakistan which would land at the ports in a day or two.