HYDERABAD: As onion prices shot up in many parts of the country, same is the situation in Hyderabad and elsewhere in Telangana, as supplies of the commodity from neighbouring Maharashtra have dwindled due to floods and heavy rains there.
While supply of onions to major markets in the State have declined to almost half of what they were last month or even at the start of this month, the prices in the local markets have doubled. Maharashtra is the largest producer of onion, accounting for a third of the country’s produce.
At the Malakpet onion market here, the price of fine quality of onion increased to Rs 3,000 from Rs 1,800 per quintal at the start of this month whereas the supply has fallen to 1,700 quintals on Thursday from being around 2,800 quintals on an average in the first week of this month.
Similar is the case with the other variety of onion, which usually costs Rs 900 per quintal but on Thursday it spiralled to Rs 1,700 per quintal. The arrivals decreased drastically from being close to 4,000 quintals on an average per day in the first week of this month, to just 2,544 quintals as on Thursday. In other markets across the State too, the situation is the same.
At Sadasivpet market, last month a few hundred quintals of onion used to arrive on a daily basis, which has come down to less than 100 quintals in the last two weeks whereas the price have increased from Rs 900 per quintal to as much as Rs 2,800 per quintal on Thursday. Ajay Kumar, an onion commission agent at the Malakpet onion market said, “The supply of onions from places like Nagar, Pune and Nashik has declined due to floods and heavy rains in the State.’’
Rs 3,000
price of fine quality onions per quintal at Malakpet market while the supply has fallen to 1,700 quintals from 2,800 quintals