The price of onions has crashed owing to a glut in the market with many farmers in the State going for a second crop of onions this season. This comes after one kg of onions costed over ₹100 in 2023.
Currently, small and medium-sized onions, which were selling at ₹20–₹25 per kg a few days ago, has reduced to ₹5–₹10 per kg due to excessive supply at the Agricultural Produce and Livestock Market Committee (APMC) in Yeshwanthpur.
“The government stopped exports last year when the price was at ₹35–₹40 per kg thinking there will be a huge shortage. This also prompted farmers from regions like Chitradurga and Challakere to go for a second onion crop expecting a good price,” said B. Ravi Shankar, an onion merchant in APMC and the secretary of Onion Merchants’ Association of Bengaluru.
He added that more onions are also coming into the market from Belagavi, Kalaburagi and Vijayapura along with stocks from other states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The small onions which are majorly grown in Chitradurga and Challakere were mainly exported to countries like Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Bangladesh. Now with a ban on exports, these small onions have no demand in local markets.
“People who buy onions for day-to-day consumption avoid small onions as it requires a lot of work. They only prefer big onions,” Mr. Shankar said. The price for big onions is not great either. Most of the stock which has come from Solapur in Maharashtra are selling for ₹20 per kg (previously around ₹40-50 per kg) in APMC.
The traders said that although they do not want to sell onions at a lesser price, they have no choice even as they waited for a few weeks for the price to climb up. “Onions are not highly durable and hence we have to sell them at whatever price we are getting instead of not selling it and going into complete loss,” said Gopi, another onion trader in APMC.
The traders said that if the government does not consider resuming exports of onions, then farmers and traders alike will be impacted badly. Going by the current trends, more onions are expected to arrive in markets by April – May and the steady supply will continue till December with no price rise.
