COVID-19 pandemic disrupts onion trade in country

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, April 7

Onion prices have fallen to around Rs 3 per kilogramme with demand plummeting due to the COVID-19 pandemic across the country.

According to information available from traders at the Lasalgaon onion market, the country’s biggest market for the bulb, the countrywide lockdown has disrupted the supply chain.

“There are not enough trucks to take the onions to different parts of the country and demand from hotels and restaurants have fallen because of the lockdown,” says trader Annabhau Bhise who operates from the market.

Trading at Lasalgaon resumed today after weeklong lockdown after a baker catering to the traders and workers operating at the market tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

Even as buyers for the bulb are scarce due to the lockdown, farmers in the vicinity are bringing their late kharif crop for sale.

“The average price of onion today was around Rs 650 per quintal. Poor quality onions were around Rs 200 per quintal,” says Bhise.

According to officials of the APMC, onion arrival at Lasalgaon was around 2000 tonnes till late afternoon today.

Information available from the market is that the Nashik region has reported a bumper onion crop this year.

Exporters who stock up on the bulb for the global markets are absent due to the absence of international flights following the coronavirus pandemic.

The fall in wholesale prices has not helped the end customers. Onions are being sold for Rs 30 per kilogramme in Mumbai retail markets.