Soaring Onion Prices Burn Hole In Common Man's Pocket; Traders Hope For Govt Intervention

New Delhi: The retail prices of onion seems to be burning a hole in the common man’s pocket as supply of the kitchen staple has dipped.

At Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) -- the country's largest wholesale onion market --the average wholesale rates of onions zoomed by upto 30-50 percent in the last few days due to delayed arrivals of the crop.

Meanwhile, media reports say that traders have started holding stocks, hoping for government intervention to cool down rates. Onion prices have surged as demand has risen ahead of Eid-al-Adha (Bakra Eid). 

Credit rating agency CRISIL had last week reported that the cost of home-prepared vegetarian thali went up by one per cent and that of non-vegetarian thali went down by the same percentage last month as compared to April.

On a year-on-year basis, the cost of cooking a vegetarian thali went up by nine per cent last month while that of a non-vegetarian thali declined by seven per cent.

In May this year, the cost of cooking a vegetarian thali at home stood at Rs 27.8 (April rate Rs 27.4) whereas the cost of a non-vegetarian home meal was at Rs 55.9 (April rate Rs 56.3), the report said.

According to CRISIL, a vegetarian thali comprises roti, vegetables (onion, tomato, and potato), rice, dal, curd, and salad. For a non-vegetarian thali, chicken has been considered instead of dal.

As per the report, the cost of the vegetarian thali heated up on a yearly basis owing to a surge of 39 per cent, 41 per cent and 43 per cent on-year in the prices of tomato, potato and onion, respectively, largely because of the low base of last fiscal.

“Lower onion arrivals on account of a significant drop in rabi acreage coupled with a decline in potato arrivals on account of the adverse impact of late blight and crop damage in West Bengal contributed towards the increase in prices,” the report notes.

With IANS Inputs