Avg wholesale price of onions jumps 18%

Nashik: Average wholesale price of onions at the Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) increased by 18% over the past one week, driven by tightening supplies amid steady demand.The average price increased from Rs1,500 per quintal on June 15 to Rs1,775 per quintal on June 18. In a parallel move, the Union consumer affairs ministry has revised onion procurement rates for its agencies — the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED) and the National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF) — from Rs1,650 to Rs1,730 per quintal with effect from June 20.However, farmers continue to fetch better prices in the open market. A and B grade onions, which are procured by the central agencies, are currently trading between Rs1,800 and Rs2,200 per quintal respectively at the APMCs.An APMC official, while talking to TOI, said wholesale onion prices have been fluctuating due to a mismatch between supply and demand. “Prices tend to increase when arrivals decline and fall when arrivals go up.

Over the past few days, prices have fluctuated between Rs100 and Rs250 per quintal,” the official said.Meanwhile, despite the Centre increasing procurement rates, NAFED and NCCF are yet to begin large-scale procurement directly from farmers at APMCs in the district.According to the farmers, even though average price of onion wholesale at district APMCs has increased, it remains below the cost of production which stands at around Rs2,000 per quintal.

As a result, farmers continue to incur losses.In addition, storage losses have worsened this year due to adverse weather conditions. Nearly 30% of stored summer onions have reportedly goen bad.Bharat Dighole, president of the Maharashtra Onion Growers Association, said NAFED and NCCF should immediately begin direct procurement from the farmers at APMCs, instead of procuring outsides from the farmers producers companies.

“The procurement price should be fixed at Rs3,000 per quintal to make onion cultivation viable, and both the agencies should procure onions directly from farmers at the APMCs. This will also create competition among traders and help improve market rates,” he said.Farmers have also demanded that the Centre should increase its onion procurement target from the current 2 lakh tonnes to at least 10 lakh tonnes.On Saturday, the average wholesale price of onions at Lasalgaon APMC was Rs 1,775 per quintal, with minimum and maximum prices recorded at Rs 600 and Rs 2,200 per quintal, respectively. Around 15,000 quintals of onions were auctioned at the market.