CHENNAI/TIRUCHY: Even as onion prices breached `100 per kilogram in the city, a container carrying around 28 tonnes of Egyptian onions made its way into Koyambedu wholesale market on Tuesday, in a bid to bring down the price. According to traders, the onion will be sold from Wednesday and is likely to be priced between Rs 55-Rs 65 per kg.
Interestingly, this is the second consecutive year onion is being imported from Egypt as the price crossed Rs 100. While a kg of large onions is being sold between Rs 100 and Rs 110, smaller onion is being sold at Rs 120. This comes amid warning from traders that onions will continue to get costlier over the next two to three months as onion producing States are battling unseasonal rains and menace from pests.
Chennai is facing a crisis as arrivals have become scant with 90 per cent of crops in the neighbouring Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra destroyed by rains. In a bid to address rising concern, Minister for Cooperation Sellur K Raju on Tuesday announced that good quality onion would be sold at `45 per kg through Farm Fresh outlets in Chennai and at all municipal corporations from Wednesday.
In the other parts of the State, onion would be sold through Farm Fresh outlets from Thursday, he said. Price rise during the rainy season is normal, but rains have done a lot more damage in the neighbouring States this year. The government is monitoring the prices on a daily basis, Raju added.
1K tonne of onions to be imported from Turkey
Besides Egyptian onions, the expected arrival of Turkey onion in November could also offer hope for consumers. However, the price of shallots is likely to remain high till the next harvest season. The central districts consume at least 300 tonnes of onions each day, but supplies have fallen by half.
Thangaraj, secretary of the onion wholesalers association in Tiruchy, said, “The daily need in central districts would be procured from Karnataka. Now, supplies from Karnataka have reduced to 100 tonnes. Another 100 tonnes is being brought from Maharashtra.
This has pushed the prices up.” To plug the demand-supply gap, around 1,000 tonnes of onion would be imported from Turkey in the first week of November, Thangaraj said, expressing hope that prices would stabilise at Rs 70 - Rs 80 once the consignment arrives. Prices would return to normal by January, he added.But there is no such possibility as regards shallots, which sells Rs 100 - Rs 110 a kg in the wholesale market. Reduced area of cultivation in the central region, which shallots is a major crop, is cited as reason for the supply crunch.
Traders said non-availability of labour owing to Covid regulations has forced farmers to reduce onion cultivation this season. As a result, prices are likely to rise till the next harvest season in the middle of December. Farmers in Tiruchy have just cultivated shallots, which would be ready for harvest by December.