Soaring onion prices inflate monthly budgets
| Date :06-Nov-2019 |
By Kirit Joshi :
RAIPUR,
New onion produce is available at Rs 37 to Rs 47 per kg in wholesale and the old onion is sold at Rs 52 to 55 per kg in Raipur
ONION prices in Raipur have again shot up to Rs 60 a kg mark in the retail market for the first time in one week, as 30 per cent of the truck load is getting damaged on transportation to the city. Weather also played a major role in determining onion prices with huge stock got stuck in floods ravaged areas of onion-producing states hitting supply in Chhattisgarh and across the country. The quality of produce stored for excessively more time is already inferior and even in the case of new crop there is deterioration happening while being transported and this is one major reason in escalation of prices in the local market. With the Administration strictly monitoring skyrocketing prices of onion across the state, Food and Drug Department officials have warned of strong action against the hoarders.
The teams of field officials are also directed to check hoarding, black marketing and high pricing in wholesale and retail markets. The Central government’s act of imposing stock limits and banning exports has helped in bringing down the prices in most parts of the country and in Chhattisgarh in the first week of October the prices dropped to around Rs 45 - 50 per kg over the weekend. Anurag Bhadoriya, Food Controller, Raipur District Administration, said that a team of food department had inspected three godowns and found nothing wrong. The prescribed limit to store onions is 50 tonne. “We would continue with our action and punish those found indulging in hoarding of onions,” said the Food Controller.
Former President of Alu Pyaj Vikreta Sangh, Bhanpuri Jitendra Doshi said “Maximum onion produce that was to be harvested around Diwali was damaged in the unexpected rains in the onion producing states. The additional last season stocks are unable to meet the demand in the market creating major shortage on demand-supply across the country resulting in spike in prices”. However, 15 to 20 per cent of the new onion produce that survived heavy rains gets damaged while being transported to Chhattisgarh. Later, if stocked for a day, 50 per cent of the remaining quantity gets damaged resulting in losses to both wholesale and retail traders, Doshi added. He further said that the new onion produce was available at Rs 40 to Rs 50 per kg in wholesale and the old onion is sold at Rs 55 to 58 per kg in Raipur on Monday. However, the overall prices have come down by Rs 2 to Rs 3 on Tuesday.