BENGALURU: Rising onion prices are causing a strain on hoteliers who are already struggling to cope with the taking away of input tax credit recently. Prices which were `36 per kg in early October have risen to around `67 per kg, are pegged to remain high for the next 15-20 days till the supply eases.
With prices at retail locations being marginally higher at about `75 per kg and the heavy dependence of Indian cuisine on the humble onion, people are coming up with innovative ways to ensure that they consume less. “We usually need four or five onions to make a curry, but now we just grind two onions in order to get the same flavour,” said Nitu Arun, a resident of C V Raman Nagar.
The price hike has hit the wholesale market, which hoteliers mostly depend on. “The prices have almost doubled in the wholesale market as well. It has hit our earnings badly,” said Santosh N, who runs Sangam Hotel in Kamanahalli. Others are contemplating a hike in prices of food items if the situation remains the same. “We normally do not increase prices as it will translate into fewer customers. But if this situation continues, we will not have any other option,” said the manager of a popular hotel in Vijayanagar.
According to the Horticultural Producers’ Co-operative Marketing and Processing Society (HOPCOMS), the shortage is because of increase in exports. “We are not able to procure onions for local sale because they are all being exported,” a HOPCOMS official said. Retailers however, blamed the heavy rains across South India in the past few months.
In Bengaluru, onions are usually sourced from Dharwad and Tamil Nadu, but the supply from Tamil Nadu has dried up as prices there are hovering around the `100 per kg, retailers said.
Increasing prices of food items at a time when the hotel industry is already facing criticism for high prices might not be easy.
“Onions are used in almost all our dishes and we will have to hike prices across the menu which is not an easy task. We are hoping that the situation will be better in 15 days time as this is what our regular suppliers are telling us,” said Chandrashekar Hebbar, president of the Bruhat Bengaluru Hoteliers Association.
Onion prices across the state are also seeing an upward rise. On Wednesday, the price of the tuber was `63 per kg in Mangaluru, `55 in Hubbali and `50 in Mysuru.Middlemen too are inflating prices by hoarding onions, say farmers. In Ballari district alone, where onions are grown in over 50,000 acres, farmers say those who sold their produce much before the crisis earned only between `450 to `1,400 per quintal while middlemen who bought them are selling it at a higher cost.