Trichy: Onion to remain pricey for next 2 months, say traders

TRICHY: As it is unlikely that onion supply from regular destinations will stabilise anytime soon, wholesale traders said that the skyrocketing price of both Bellary and small onions would continue for at least two months.

“Traders purchase from Bellary onion from Bengaluru but rain spoiled around 50% of the crop there.

So, the supply from Karnataka has been reduced to 150 tonnes from 300 tonnes per day. Of this, around 40% goes to waste during transit,” Trichy Onion Commission Mandi Traders’ Association general secretary A Thangaraj said.

“As of now, there is no chance of getting Bellary onion from Bengaluru. However, we are expecting big onions from Nasik. We can get them only in January. Till then the fluctuation would continue,” he added.

Shortfall in supply across the country has caused the price of onion to go up by 40% in the last two weeks. Onion is being sold in the range of Rs 60 to Rs 75/kg in Trichy. Wholesale traders said that the fluctuation would continue for another two months until the required supply reaches the markets.

As per wholesale traders in Gandhi Market in Trichy, retail Bellary onion prices in the city shot up Rs 75/kg on Saturday from Rs 60 last week. Small onion is being sold at Rs 45 to Rs 65/kg as wholesale and retails for Rs 55 to Rs 75/kg, wholesale traders said.

“For small onions, Gandhi market relies on Perambalur and Thuraiyur in Trichy district and Namakkal. However, incessant rains during the third and fourth weeks of October destroyed 30-40% of the crop. This had reduced the supply to Gandhi market to 70 to 80 tonnes per day against usual 200 tonnes per day,” Thangaraj said.

“Currently, the only source for the entire state is Alanthurai in Coimbatore district. Around 250 tonnes have been transported to Trichy and other neighbouring districts per day. This apart, 50 tonnes have been transported to Kerala also. The second crop would possibly reach our markets within a month from Namakkal, Perambalur and Thuraiyur. Then only the price of small onion would come down,” he said.

Meanwhile, to ease the burden on consumers, the cooperative department in Trichy has begun onion sales through its 12 farm fresh outlets in the district at Rs 40/kg. Joint registrar of Cooperative department KP Arularasu said that they have begun onion sales through 12 farm fresh outlets from November 8, procuring from Andhra Pradesh.

“During the first day, we procured 510kg of onion for Rs 19,380, of which we sold 131kg for Rs 5,240. However, during the second day (Saturday) the sales doubled. A large number of people started to arrive at the outlets. So, it would definitely go up further”, he said.

Onion is also available for Rs 30 per kg at farm fresh outlets. During the first day, 9kg of second quality onion was sold for Rs 360, officials added.