The retail price of onions has risen by 45 per cent in the last one week to Rs 80/kg in the national capital, and the government is taking all steps to contain the price rise, Union Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Wednesday.
In view of high prices, Paswan reviewed the situation of demand, supply and prices with top officials of food and consumer affairs departments for two hours at his residence. The secretaries of both the departments were present.
"We have reviewed the onion availability and price situation. Prices have gone up as production (kharif onion) has declined by 30-40 per cent in the country," Paswan told reporters here.
There was a delay in sowing of kharif onion because of late arrival of monsoon and later floods in many states damaged the crop, he said.
Stating that prices fluctuate depending on supply-demand, Paswan said currently, there is mismatch in this. However, the government is taking measures to improve availability and check prices.
"We are concerned about the situation and the government is trying its best. We have taken maximum steps," he said.
Asked when the prices will cool down, Paswan said, "I am not an astrologer but it should hopefully come down by end of November or beginning December."
He also appealed consumers and media to give suggestions to address the current crisis.
Highlighting measures, Paswan said the government has banned the export of raw and processed onions, imposed stock holding limits on traders besides offloading buffer stock at a cheaper rate of Rs 24.90/kg to provide relief to consumers.
That apart, the government is making efforts to facilitate imports through private trade from Afghanistan, Egypt, Turkey and Iran. The Agriculture Ministry has also been asked to liberalise import norms, he said.
Paswan said much of the onions from the buffer stock of 57,000 tonnes has been disposed off, while 25 per cent of it has been rotten due to short shelf life of the commodity. Still, 1,525 tonnes is left in the central buffer stock.
The rates stood at Rs 55/kg on October 1, as per the official data.
Onion prices are ruling high for more than a month in Delhi-NCR due to supply disruption following heavy rains in growing states like Maharashtra.
As per the data, there has been almost three-fold jump in onion prices from the year-ago period. Onions were sold at Rs 30-35/kg in retail markets in November 2018.
Not only in Delhi, onion prices are ruling high in most of the consuming areas across the country. However in the national capital, onion has been a "politically sensitive" commodity.
"The prices should moderate in the coming days as the arrival of fresh crop has begun in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Karnataka. But untimely rain has affected the transportation to the consuming areas," a senior Consumer Affairs Ministry official told PTI.
In Delhi, the availability of onion is being improved from the central buffer stock handled by co-operative Nafed.
The buffer stock has been given to Mother Dairy for retailing at a cheaper rate of Rs 24.90/kg through its 400-odd Safal outlets to provide relief to consumers, he said.
However, some of the Safal outlets are running out of stock and poor consumers are returning with disappointment.
"I waited for two hours in the queue to buy onions from Safal but when my turn came the stock got over," said a housemaid Mumtaz who was waiting outside the Safal outlet at Jangpura Extension.
The price rise has affected to an extent that in some localities, the customers of a particular colony are requesting the Safal owners not to sell the commodity to outsiders.
Meanwhile, the government has decided to facilitate private imports from Afghanistan, Egypt, Turkey and Iran and even liberalise phytosanitary and fumigation norms.
Private traders have informed the government that 80 containers of imported onions have reached Indian ports and 100 containers are in high seas and can be diverted to India, the official said.
