Rise in supplies, weak demand hit onion prices; exports yet to resume

Onion rates in the crucial growing areas of Maharashtra and Karnataka have crashed as demand from customers from institutional consumers these as accommodations and eating places has dried up because of to the lockdown. Also, the deficiency of export demand from customers for the bulb has contributed to the price crash amidst new crop arrivals.

The regular monthly average modal price, which stood at ₹1,950 per quintal in February has now crashed to ₹722 in April at Lasalgaon, the greatest onion current market that sets the price development. In March, the average modal price stood at ₹1,475.

About 70 per cent onion export from Nashik district is at a standstill and this has resulted in price crash, claimed Suvarna Jagtap, Chairperson of APMC at Lasalgaon. “The Lasalgaon current market was shut for just 4 times through the lockdown. Farmers are bringing in onion, but there is no demand from customers. The circulation of onion in the current market has not declined through the lockdown as farmers want to offer the produce for the reason that of uncertainty,” she claimed. Jagtap extra that the ban on onion imports by Sri Lanka and Nepal has strike challenging. “Even prior to the lockdown was imposed we were being prepared to export onion to these two nations around the world, but they refused to settle for consignments,” claimed Jagtap. She extra that onion rates will stabilise when the export is resumed. Traders and farmers in Nashik have asked for elected associates to aid export so that the price crash is managed.

Ashok Lahamage, a farmer from Nashik, claimed a huge sum of onion goes to accommodations and malls and there are farmers who directly source to them. “But the lockdown has forced those people farmers to provide their onion to the current market. Also, demand from customers for Nashik onion is influenced for the reason that onion from Gujarat has achieved Nandurbar and Dhule areas and onion from Karnataka is in Solapur and other close by marketplaces,” he claimed.

Rabi onion is sown in December in Maharasthra. For the reason that of unseasonal rains in Oct and November last yr, the sowing of rabbi crop was delayed in many sites. But this does not have an affect on the current market as the demand from customers is minimal.

Lower demand from customers in Karnataka

In Chitradurga district of central Karnataka, farmers are acquiring it difficult to offer their produce. Farmers, aided by the availability of h2o, had expanded the location beneath onion through rabi as the rates were being excellent in advance of the cropping season. “The source is far more with the arrival of rabi crop, even though the retail demand from customers is however to come back,” trade sources claimed. Modal rates in Davangere have been ruling at ₹700 per quintal.