Onion prices are on their hike. Know the reasons for such hike..

There is an amid rise in the price of Onions in India recently. Onion prices are on their hike. It is the festival month where Onions are making hole in the pocket of a common man. After tomatoes its time for Onions and Potatoes to put burden on the budget of the common man. Onions in the retail market have double in the past couple of days reaches to Rs.60-80 per Kg from Rs.30 -35 per Kg , where Tomatoes reaches upto 200 per kg last time but after getting back to their normal prices, they are again start getting high in some places.

Over the past few days households across India are shocked because of Onion prices are on hike. This allows a common man to think over the price hike and the government policies to control this unfavourable rise during festive season. This is the second time in the last four months where onions prices have rises. This puts lot of burden on the household and other food outlets. There are many reasons for this increase in the price of the onions. Who is more addicted of Junk Food ? Youth or Children

Why onion prices are increasing . Know the resons?

According to some wholesalers constant and earlier change in weather this year with a heatwave and irregular rain, leads to bad Onion crop this year. There is not a single reason but there are many multiple factors which are responsible for this hike. Delay in cultivation which results in gap between Supply and Demand. According to reports farmers are selling their crop to international markets with the motive to earn more money which triggered  a shortage of supply of Onions in the country afflects in price hike.

Several Restaurants already removes Onion from their salad plate and other food products. Tejas Rana a dealer in Sitapur Mandi, explained,” We are currently getting only 30-40 truckloads of onions in the local market. A recent strike by onion traders in a neighbouring state also distrupted the supply, leading to hike in price”.

“There has been delay in the sowing of Kharif Onions because of unfavourable weather conditions, this results in lower cultivation and late crop arrival,”a senior Government official stated

What Government doing?

Government has introduced an export tax of 40% which was nil earlier. The Minimum Export Price has been set for Rs. 66.70 per tonne for Onions till December 31 to decrease the sale of home grown Onions in International market. No trader can export Onion at a price lesser than this.

Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh has also stated that since mid-August, buffer onions have been released into the market and the government is also increasing their retail distribution to prevent further price hikes. The buffer onions are being made available at a rate of just Rs 25 per kg through National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation (NCCF) and the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED).

DEPARTMENT OF FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION