New onion crop arrival brings down prices to Rs 60-70 per kg

NEW DELHI: With the arrival of new crop in the wholesale market, onion prices fell by Rs 10 per kg to Rs 60-70 per kg in retail markets in the national capital.

In the coming weeks prices are expected to further cool down as new crop from Karnataka has started coming into the market. According to NHRDF data, arrivals of onion at Bangalore wholesale market has increased by 50 per cent to 76,266 quintals today from the last week's level.

Prices of the kitchen staple have also declined as onions from Afghanistan via wagha border have started coming into the market, traders added.

"Supplies have improved as the new crops from Bangalore mandi is coming in to the Azadpur mandi, which has brought the prices down by Rs 10 per kg to Rs 45-50 per kg," Onion Merchant Traders Association President Surendra Budhiraj said.

He added that supplies have increased by around 30 per cent from the last week, with around 12,000 quintals of onion arriving in the market today against last week's average arrival of 9,000 quintals.

Meanwhile, Mother Dairy outlets, which are selling onions at Rs 62-64 per kg, is also contemplating reducing prices from tomorrow after the fall in the prices at the wholesale market, an official said.

Traders also attributed the fall in wholesale onion prices to decline in prices in Lasalgaon Mandi in Nashik, which sets the price trend of the politically sensitive commodity across the country.

According to National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF) data, prices of the Onion at Lasalgaon in Nashik, decreased by Rs 6 per kg to Rs 41 per kg today.

The government's recent decision to hike the minimum export price (MEP) of onion to USD 900 per tonne from USD 650 per tonne has also pushed the prices downwards.

Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation had risen for the third straight month to 6.1 per cent in August, driven by a whopping 244.62 per cent jump in onion prices on an annual basis.