Wholesale onion prices at Lasalgaon, the country’s largest wholesale onion hub, rose by around Rs 200-300 per quintal over the long weekend, to average at Rs 1,351 per quintal. The price rise is being seen as an impact of the Centre’s decision to remove minimum export price (MEP) restrictions.
The Centre on December 11 slashed the MEP from $700 to $400 per tonne, and then, to zero on December 23. As a result, traders have begun procuring onion for export which is resulting in a price hike, top officials of the Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) say. According to traders, around 1,50,000 tonnes of onion has been contracted for export to the Middle East, Far East, Indonesia and Colombo among other markets.
On Tuesday, modal prices at the Lasalgaon wholesale market in Nashik touched R1,351 per quintal with the minimum price at R1,000 per quintal and maximum prices going up to R1,622 per quintal. Around 19,500 quintals arrived in the market on Tuesday while on Monday, the market which opened after a gap of four days saw some 20,860 quintals being brought into the market. Modal prices on Monday touched Rs 1,425 per quintal. Last week, arrivals were around 21,500 quintals and modal prices had fallen to Rs 1,125 per quintal. Farmers then had concerns that prices would drop below the R10-per-kg mark later in the season. Industry experts said that arrivals are expected to rise since the onion harvesting has taken place across the country in the same time period, leading to the price fall last week and therefore wholesale prices were expected to drop from the Rs 10-12 a kg to Rs 7-8 a kg.
According to Ajit Shah, president, Horticulture Producers Exporters Association, the step taken by the Centre to scrap the MEP altogether will see a rise in export. “Traders have contracts for onion export for some 1,50,000 tonne in the coming month to Gulf, Far East , Indonesia and Colombo at $ 250 per tonne. Prices will pick up and so will export and later prices should stabilise, “he said.
Nanasaheb Patil, chairman, Lasalgaon APMC, was in agreement and said traders have begun procuring onion for export and therefore prices have increased by Rs 300 in just two days. The domestic consumption of the country is around 10.5-11 lakh tonne per month and arrivals are now touching 18-20 lakh arrivals on a monthly basis, he said. Arrivals in Nashik alone are around 2 lakh quintals a day and then there are arrivals at other onion markets such as Talegaon, Aurangabad, Dhule, Ahmednagar, Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh among others. Moreover, this Kharif, onion is perishable and cannot be stored and therefore the Centre’s decision to remove MEP restrictions has come at an apt time, Patil said.