BENGALURU: Well, you may start considering switching to Satvik food. With price of onions rising sharply over the last few days, home budgets are sure to take a hit. Making matters worse, the price is only going to rise for the next two months till fresh yield is available in the market, say traders and farmers.
On Friday, onion was selling at Rs 50-60 per kg in the retail market in Bengaluru and at Rs 40 in the wholesale market. According to Hopcoms, the price of onion per kg was Rs 60. On Thursday, the price was Rs 52 per kg and on Wednesday, it was Rs 47. Hopcoms officials say that prices are rising by about Rs 4 per kg every day.
The situation seems to be the same in other parts of the state too. In Mysuru, onion was selling at Rs 50-56 per kg on Friday as against Rs 47 last week. Kalaburagi saw a sharp rise from Rs 40 per kg on Wednesday to Rs 60 on Friday. While onion was selling at anywhere between Rs 40 and Rs 50 in Mangaluru, it was Rs 45-48 in Shivamogga. Ramu, a wholesale merchant in Shivamogga said the price will touch Rs 50 by Saturday. The red onion variety is arriving in Belagavi from Nashik in Maharashtra.
The import not enough to meet the requirement due to which the price has shot to Rs 3,500 per quintal at APMC in Belagavi. In the retail market, onion is sold at Rs 40-45 per kg. Kalleshi Chandgadkar, a wholesale onion merchant, said, “The high price of onion at this time is common every year since stocks of the previous season drying up. Fresh yield will start arriving in a couple of weeks from Karnataka and the price is expected come down.”
Hoteliers, homemakers feel the pinch of rising price
The rising prices have already started impacting restaurants and small eateries which have resorted to reducing the quantity of onions used in food items and salads. Homemakers are also using less of onions so that the home budget is not disturbed in the middle of the month. Veerendra Kamat, treasurer, Bruhat Bengaluru Hotels Association, said the rise in price will definitely have an impact on the quality of food as onion, potato and tomato are three major ingredients. It will also have an impact on customers. He added that restaurant and hotels can stock onions for a maximum of 15 days.
Sumitra M, a homemaker, said: “Increasing prices are a worry as Dasara festival is just round the corner. Our monthly budgets will be affected. The government should look into the issue of price rise.”
BN Prasad, Managing Director of Hopcoms, said onion price had touched the highest of Rs 60 per kg in the last one-and-half years. Stocks available in Karnataka presently is 6-8 months old from Maharashtra. Since quality is good, the prices are also high. The fresh stocks which came from Chitradurga andGadar are not that good, he said. Good quality onion is judged by its deep pink colour, pungent smell and bulb size.
Uday Shankar, an onion trader, told TNIE that heavy rain over the last few months has damaged the crops in most parts of Karnataka including Chitradurga, Gadag, Hubballi-Dharwad, Challakere and even Maharashtra. This has led to a shortfall in supply. Around 50% of the onion consumed in Karnataka, especially Bengaluru, come from Maharashtra.
Shankar added that so far, there was no effect on import and export. “We will have to import onions when prices touch Rs 100 per kg, but it may not rise so much. Spot sales to traders from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh has also come down,” he said. Usually, around this time, the market yards see the arrival of around one lakh bags per day, but that has now dropped to 50,000 bags. Each bag holds about 50-55 kg of onions, depending on the size.
GOING NORTH
D 50-60/kgOnion
D 15 (native) D 20 (hybrid)/kg
Tomato D 26 -28 /kg
Potato