Wholesale prices of onion jumped by over 20 per cent Monday in the backdrop of extensive damage to standing late kharif crop caused by rain and hailstorm on Sunday. The onion is the most affected vegetable due to the rain this season. Onion prices have increased by 29 per cent in two days. In Lasalgaon, Maharashtra, the price of old onions has increased by 29 per cent in two days. While its average price on Saturday was Rs 3,300/quintal, on Monday, its price reached above Rs 4,250/quintal. Due to the rain, the supply of onions has decreased, and the average price of new Kharif onions has also increased by 12 per cent. The average price of Kharif onion has increased from Rs 3,751 to Rs 4201/quintal.
Maharashtra’s Pimpalgaon and Lasalgoan Agriculture Market Committee are Asia’s largest onion markets who had first seen prices begin to rise in the second week of August. Onion prices then, had jumped from Rs 1,200 per quintal on August 5 to Rs 1,900 on August 7. They stood at Rs 2,500 a quintal on August 9. Retail prices of the commodity had been hovering around Rs 30 a kilo.The onion crop is grown in three seasons - kharif, late kharif, and rabi—and is experiencing a price rise due to delayed kharif crop arrivals.