india

Updated: Nov 07, 2019 04:43 IST

Onion prices have witnessed a sharp increase this week, which traders and experts attributed to widespread disruption to harvest and ruined crops following an extended rainy season, even as the government scrambled for measures to augment supply.

Traders at Lasalgaon, the largest onion wholesale market near Maharashtra’s Nashik, said rains throughout October had crimped output a well as arrivals, and prices would continue to remain under pressure.

Across several parts of the country, consumers on Wednesday were fretting over exorbitant rates of a commonly consumed vegetable. Onion prices more than doubled from Rs 25 a kg in June to Rs 90-100 in October.

After briefly stabilising at about Rs 50 during October-end, the prices have again touched Rs 80-100 for some varieties in urban centres such as New Delhi, Patna and Guwahati.

The Ram Vilas Paswan-led Union consumer affairs ministry on Wednesday assessed onion supply, and decided to send officials to Nashik, a key onion belt, to take stock.

The government said it was relaxing fumigation and phytosanitary norms for onion imports, hoping to improve inbound shipments. These norms refer to legal standards for presence of pests, pesticides and other agricultural chemicals in food imports.“Untimely rains and the two cyclones had an impact on the overall production and also hindered the transportation of onions especially from Maharashtra,” an official statement issued by the ministry after the price-review meet stated.

Western coast states, such as Maharashtra and Karnataka, witnessed renewed rainfall last week due to the cyclones, Kyarr and Maha, according to the India Meteorological Department. The rains were 52% surplus in September, a time when the monsoon usually begins to taper.

“Excess rains in the period between September 7 and 13 caused severe damage to crops by inducing flower shedding and impacting seed setting,” an analysis of the impact of surplus rains in Maharashtra by Skymet, a weather firm, said.

Ten states have witnessed severe flooding after a surge in monsoon during the second half of the June-September rainy spell. These are Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka and Bihar. Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka account for more than half of the country’s summer onion crop.

According to an HT analysis of government data on October 1, onions are the second most consumed vegetable in the country after potatoes, with an average Indian household spending 13% of its total vegetable bill on onions alone.

Generally available round the year, onions are grown in three cycles. The summer or kharif crop (sown in April-June) begins hitting markets from mid-October. The late kharif crop (sown in September) fills markets from January till March. The main winter or rabi crop (grown between October and November) reaches markets during March and April. July-October is usually a lean period, when prices rise.“At least 30% of the crop was affected by the rains, which has dwindled supplies,” said Shirish Jamdade, a horticulture official in Pune.

Sowing of summer onion crop had been delayed by over a month in key states due to a sluggish start to this year’s monsoon rains. This resulted in delayed harvests, another reason for lower supplies this year.

“Old stocks are commanding a high price. If rain stops, new arrivals will increase and prices will come down,” said Ashok Karpe, a wholesale trader in Mumbai said.