No relief from onion prices till January

Mumbai: The price of onions continues to soar in APMC market of Vashi and Lasalgaon, according to the committee members. While Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) officials stated that they are getting old stock at higher prices, they said that customers are likely to get relief from the increasing prices from January.

According to the data of APMC, the price of onion on November 25 stands at Rs 5,401 per quintal in Lasalgaon APMC. It is around Rs 300 higher than the modal price recorded on November 20 in the same market.

Meanwhile in Mumbai’s onion and potato market, the price of onions stood at Rs 8,000 per quintal, as opposed to Rs 5,600 per quintal on November 20. The retail price of onions in Mumbai at present is Rs 80 per kilogram.  

The APMC officials stated that this will continue for few more days due to lesser stock available in the market.

“Even Lasalgaon APMC which is one of the largest supplier of onions, has been facing shortage of stock. The older stocks are being sold at higher prices as the fresh crops were destroyed due to untimely rains,” said an APMC official.

“The only relief that we can get from the high price of onion can be expected from January onwards. This is the time when late kharif crops are harvested. As such, we hope that the stock will likely increase as compared to present situation,” he added.

This year, the late kharif crop cultivation was extended till November as contrary to September usually due to unprecedented rains, as per the official.