KOCHI: Though it was expected that the prices of onion would go up during the Christmas days, interestingly the prices came down on the Christmas eve. Much to the relief of customers, who had to buy onion at Rs 170 per kg last week, the prices dropped to Rs 110 per kg on Tuesday.
“The price of first-grade onion from Maharashtra stood at Rs 120 per kilogram at the wholesale market. Second-grade onion was sold at Rs 100 per kg while red onion from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu was sold at Rs 100 per kg,” said Ernakulam Market Stall Owners’ president KK Ashraf. Dark-coloured onion from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are further graded based on the size. The smaller onions were available at Rs 70 in the retail market. The large onions were priced at `110 in the retail market.
“The price of onion is coming down. The arrivals from neighbouring districts have increased and we hope the price would come down further in the coming weeks,” said N H Shameed, secretary, Ernakulam Market Merchant Association. Last week, the price of onion in the state touched an all-time high of `170 per kilogram in the retail market. The price of shallot remains at Rs 140 per kg in the wholesale market.