Onion prices at all-time high, hit century in city

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 1

The price of onion has broken all records in the city, touching the all-time high of Rs 100 per kg in the retail market.

While traders at the Sector 26 fruit and vegetable market said scarce supply was the reason for the unprecedented high price, there is a possibility that the cost of vegetable will go up in the coming days.

Dilip Kumar, a wholesale trader of onions, said the city was getting an insufficient stock of onion from Nasik, Rajasthan and Indore. The wholesale rates also rose by Rs 10 to Rs 20 in the past two days and onion was sold at Rs 80 per kg. 

Due to the increase in the wholesale rates, onion was being priced up to Rs 100 per kg in retail, which is the highest ever in the city. 

Anil Kumar, another wholesale trader of onion at the Sector 26 market, said the crisis was not limited to the city but the entire country.

Not only onion, the prices of other vegetables have also increased. 

Sumit Kumar, a resident of Sector 21, said the increasing price of onion left him worried as it was one vegetable which cannot be avoided.

Brijmohan, vice-president of Sabaj Mandi Arhtiya Association, said the sudden increase in the price of onion cost heavily to many traders as they were incurring loss in supplying it at the tender rate, which was Rs 20 to Rs 30. 

The rates of all types of vegetables witnessed an increase of 10 to 20 per cent. Tomatoes, which were available at Rs 15 per kg, are now being sold for Rs 20 to Rs 25 per kg. The rates of potatoes jumped from Rs 15 per kg to Rs 20 to Rs 25 per kg. Cucumber, peas and bottle gourd have become costlier by around 20 per cent.