Harvest or no harvest, onions are tear-jerkers

MUMBAI: Despite the unprecedented bumper harvest of onion in Maharashtra in January and the additional arrivals in April-May , prices have once again risen to a steep Rs 22-24 per kg in retail markets. Just a few months before, the government had assured citizens that the country would face neither scarcity nor price rise till next year.
In fact Virendra Singh of the government-run National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) had confirmed that there was a shortage of storage space owing to a surfeit of arrivals.
Since the past week, however , onion is selling for Rs 18-24 in neighbourhood markets as against the normal price of Rs 12-15 per kg. Shoppers at the Four Bungalows market in Andheri wondered if it was due to high demand during the festive season, but vendors remained non-committal about prices reducing after Ganeshotsav.
On Sunday, provision stores in Bandra were selling onion for up to Rs 24 per kg. Vendor Madanbhai Parmar said, “It is the middlemen who are raking in profits in the absence of government control on prices.”
In an alarming signal, the spokesperson of the Vashi wholesale market says rates could rise further to Rs 25. “There is no shortage of onion,” admits Ashok Walunj, director of the onion-potato market at the APMC. “However , old bulbs fetch a higher price, and the current stock has ripened from the time it was harvested in April-May .
Prices will remain high, perhaps escalate to Rs 25 until the fresh crop arrives from Nashik in October.”
Simply put, in the absence of any government control, middlemen as well as retailers are at liberty to overcharge as they please. An exporter from the eastern suburbs confirmed that there was no question of scarcity , particularly since fresh stocks of the south Indian onion have also been coming. “Wholesale prices of onion stand at Rs 12-13 per kg. Despite overheads and transportation costs, there is no reason why retail costs should touch Rs 22. But logic does not apply in the retail sector , each vendor places a whimsical margin on his wares. It is for the government to intervene at times like this,” he said.
Until a fresh political row erupts over the issue, onion prices look set to draw tears once more.