Onion prices are likely to fall further in a couple of weeks as the average wholesale rates at Lasalgaon have gone down to Rs 15 per kg on the back of increased arrivals in the market.
Around 11,000 quintals of onions arrived at Lasalgaon on Thursday with modal rates touching Rs 1,500 per quintal. The minimum price was Rs 900 per quintal and maximum was R2,080 per quintal.
On Monday, 12,954 quintals arrived at modal prices of Rs 1,940 per quintal. The trend is likely to continue and prices are likely to dip further to range between Rs 10-15 per kg by December 15, top officials of the National Horticultural Research and Development Foundation (NHRDF) said.
Retail prices are currently hovering between Rs 25 and Rs 35 per kg. The arrivals are, now in surplus in important markets including Lasalgaon and Delhi, around 15,000 to 16,000 quintals, RP Gupta, director, NHRDF, said. The trend will continue in the coming weeks and therefore prices should go down, he said.
According to the latest report of NHRDF, the harvesting of kharif onion crop in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka continues and the arrivals are likely to reduce in these states since 85% of the kharif crop has been harvested.
However, the kharif onion harvesting in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan has just begun, Gupta said.
The area under late kharif onion in major producing states like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh is expected to increase in comparison to the last year. The transplanting of seedlings has already been completed. The crop condition is good and harvesting of the crop is likely to be started from January next year, officials said.
According to Gupta, unlike the past when there was total dependence on Maharashtra, other state governments have begun encouraging onion production. “There is a drought condition in Maharashtra but the rains have been good in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat has a good water supply and therefore the supply is being met from these states. There are other states such as Bihar as well. So there is a 10-20% rise in cultivation of onion in other states as well,” he pointed out.
A rise of 10-20% is expected in rabi onion acreage which is expected to begin from December onwards. Gupta said that from the planting assessment that has been done across the country, it has been noted that seed sowing of rabi onion has been almost completed and transplanting of seedling has begun. He said that roughly one could expect a 10-20% rise in acreage.