Now, growers flock to store their onion to cash in during lean arrivals season
April 05, 2021
Prices drop below ₹900/quintal; export demand yet to pick up
Onion growers in Maharashtra have booked warehouses and storages well in advance this year to store the bulb even as its prices have slipped further to below ₹900 a quintal.
“Onion prices have dropped sharply from the highs seen in February. Rabi onions are expected to arrive from April 15 onwards. By now itself, onion farmers have booked spaces in warehouses to store the bulb,” said Agri Commodities Exporters Association (ACEA) President M Madan Prakash.
Onion prices, which had zoomed to ₹4,000 a quintal in the third week of February this year, have nosedived to below ₹900. According to Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare data, modal price of red onion, usually harvested during early and late Kharif season, is currently ₹850/quintal at Lasalgaon, Asia’s largest market for the bulb.
Onion Exports Face Woes In Wooing Back Importers, Higher Domestic Price
by M R Subramani - Feb 10, 2021 10:37 AM
A file picture of onions kept ready for auction at Gondal Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Yard in Gujarat.
Snapshot
According to the Kolkata-based Directorate-General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, India exported 13.17 lakh tonnes of onion between April and October this fiscal before the ban was imposed.
Onion shipments from India are facing problems after the Union government lifted the ban on exports from 1 January this year, first in wooing back importers and now due to rising domestic prices.
The Union government banned onion exports in September last year after the vegetableâs retail prices began to surge. In the second week of October, the rates topped Rs 100 a kg in retail outlets.
Onions prices have been climbing since the beginning of 2021 after the government lifted the ban on exports that was imposed in September when rates began to surge.