Onion arrivals down to one-fifth
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH,Oct 29 — Apart from hoarding and manipulation by unscrupulous traders, a shortfall in the arrival of certain vegetables this year may have cast an adverse effect on the prices of other vegetables.

According to statistics with the local market committee, the quantity of onions received by local vegetable dealers from October 1 to 25 was nearly five times less than the quantity received in the same period last year. The market received 10,300 bags of onions in October last year while in this month, the arrival of onions was a mere 2146 bags each of which weighed about 40 kg.

Similarly, the quantity of peas received was also much less than last year. In place of 1,270 bags in October last year,only 987 bags (each weighing between 40 to 55 kg) arrived in the vegetable market. In the same period last year as many as 2,370 bags of cabbage (each weighing about 40 kg) were sold in the market while there was a slight fall in the arrival during the month and as many as 2208 bags of the commodity arrived .

Though market committee officials maintain that the arrival of different vegetables was 50 per cent less than last year, but the statistics revealed that except for some 'luxurious' vegetables like onions and peas the arrival of other vegetables was close to normal and even more as compared to last year. This points towards some flaw in the theory attributing the shortage due to 'massive' destruction of crops due to heavy rain in the region. This was also evident from the annual income of the market committee,which rose from Rs 146.23 lakh in 1996-97 to Rs 149.38 lakh in 1997-98. This however included income from the market fee levied on grain sold in the grain market.

Surprisingly, even as the arrival of potatoes witnessed a slight increase from 2100 bags in last year to 2185 bags till today, yet the price of a kg of commodity has risen from Rs 15 to Rs 18 from a meagre Rs 5 and Rs 7 a kg. Same is the case with tomatoes, though more baskets were received. The arrival of cauliflowers rose from 600 bags in October last year to 3,122 bags (weighing 40 kg) during this month.

While the arrival of onions shrinked, the wholesale price of the commodity increased manifold.If the price of one quintal of onions hovered between Rs 300 and Rs 1000 in last October, it shot up to a whopping Rs 3750 to Rs 4000 this year. Likewise, a similar amount of good quality tomatoes, were sold at a maximum price of Rs1500 in this month.The price of a quintal of ginger also rose from Rs 600 to Rs 1200. Similarly, the wholesale price of a bag of a 50 kg of cabbage rose from Rs 150 and Rs 300 and to a maximum of Rs 450. Capsicum and bittergourd also registered a big hike as compared to their prices in October last.