NB Explains | After tomatoes, will crisis occur due to onions price?

In a significant development, tomato prices have fallen below Rs 100 a kg across cities against the peak of Rs 250-260 per kg a fortnight back.

Reportedly, the Centre has started selling the kitchen staple at Rs 40 per kg through two government-owned cooperatives NAFED and NCCF amid declining price of the kitchen staple in wholesale and retail markets. This year has been the first time ever that the government has had to sell tomatoes at a discounted price.

 

 

The government on Saturday imposed a 40% export duty on onions to avoid any price rise during the upcoming festive season. It will applicable till December 31 this year. And this will lead to the rise in the prices of onions across all the states in India.

 

 

Earlier on August 11, the central government started releasing the staple vegetable from its buffer stock. The central government had earlier decided it will maintain 3 lakh tonne of onions in the 2023-24 season as buffer stock. In 2022-23, the government maintained 2.51 lakh tonne onion as buffer stock.

 

The latest steps come after official data showed retail inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, soared to a 15-month high of 7.4% in July, up from the previous month's 4.9%.

 

 

It is expected that onion prices across the country will rise by Rs 15 by the end of September, leading to a significant hike in its prices due to the onion export duty.

 

The benchmark price at Lasalgaon in Maharashtra, which is Asia's largest onion mandi, increased 50% to Rs 2,050 per quintal on Saturday, from Rs 1,370 a quintal on August 2.