BHUBANESWAR: The soaring prices of onion despite ban on export by the Centre and lack of uniformity in its prices in the retail markets have been resented by the consumers.The edible bulb which was selling at Rs 20 a kg in August is now priced at Rs 45-50 a kg, a rise of about 150 per cent (pc). While attributing the price hike to the high cost of onion at source markets, general secretary of Kuberpuri Merchant Association Shakti Shankar Mishra blamed the administration for the unbridled rise in the prices of this essential commodity.
“There is enough stock of onion and potato and the daily supply of the two commodities are quite normal. There are different varieties of onions and prices are fixed accordingly. The problem with the retail traders is that they are selling the lowest quality of onion at the price of higher quality,” Mishra said.
It is for the administration to keep a watch on the market so that the traders do not exploit the customers, he added.The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) is selling onion at Rs 32 a kg while the Aiginia mandi prices vary from Rs 32 to Rs 40 a kg depending on the quality of the vegetable.
The retail traders are mostly lifting the lower grade onion which should be ideally priced at Rs 36-38 a kg at the retail points. However, the retail traders are selling the low grade onion at Rs 50 due to lack of vigilance by the filed staff of the Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare department.
Onion price at Nashik, the source market for Odisha, has remained high. The average wholesale onion price in Maharashtra’s Nashik district increased from Rs 27/kg on September 14 to Rs 36/kg on September 22.
The other reason for the sudden hike in the onion price is short supply from two other markets - Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh and Bengaluru in Karnataka - due to heavy rains in the last week.
“Once normal supply from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka resumed, the onion price will smoothen,” Mishra said adding, new kharif crops have started arriving at the markets in both the southern states.