The exponential onion price rise in India will soon come to a halt, with fresh supplies of the pungent vegetable set to hit the markets in January 2020. It is estimated that the prices could become as low as 20-25 Rupees per kilogram from mid-January. That’s more than 80% below the record price.
A majority of onion supply comes from the rabi crop which is planted in December and January and harvested from March to June. Farmers store onions on godowns or premises, in ventilated structures with thatched roofing, for release till October, after which the Kharif crop, planted in September-October which gets harvested between December and February.
In 2019, late and prolonged monsoon affected the Kharif planting season of onions so badly that the price of the main ingredient in Indian curries and chutneys rose a record high at 111 Rupees per kilogram. Official reports highlighted the production of pungent produce at 52 lakh tons during the two seasons was 26% less than last year. Besides this, stored rabi crops also got damaged due to humidity adding to the misery. Of the total buffer stock of 77,000 tons, about 39,000 tons have been discarded due to spoilage.
The government sought to control prices by banning exports, restricting hoarding and increasing imports, yet the prices were up as the shipments from overseas has not arrived. Average wholesale price still at about 80 Rupees per kilogram, compared with 15 Rupees per Kilogram in June and July.
Siraj Hussain, former agriculture secretary, warned the government's decision to limit onion stockpiles could hurt farmers when prices will be down again as they will be forced to sell the produce at poor profit margins. Prices are historically volatile, they can go as low as 1 or 0.5 Rupees per Kilogram as happened at the end of the year 2018.
