Hyderrabad, Vijayawada: Good quality onions are selling for Rs 170 in the retail market in the city, which is something of a record. No one can remember the bulb getting so expensive, and traders expect it to go further up.
Good quality onions are those that have rested for about 120 days. To cash in on the shortage, traders are rushing in freshly-harvested onions that are more damp and therefore cost less. While good quality onions were priced at `15,000 per 100 kg in the wholesale market, normal and low quality was sold at `6,000. There is a huge demand in December due to the wedding season and parties. Market sources said there is a crunching shortage of onions. “We used to get 50 to 70 truckloads of onion, it has fallen to 20 now,” said a source. The best market predictions say that onion will become cheaper only in January.
In AP, many wholesalers and supermarkets have stopped purchasing onions, which now cost `150 per kg in retain. And this in a state which has the second largest onion market in Kurnool. Onion costs `135 in the wholesale market. In Vijayawada's five Rythu Bazaars, only 220 bags of onions were available and there were long queues of customers at the outlets.
Ms Pasupulete Shalini, a homemaker from Begumpet, “I have stopped using onion. My daughter is choosy about her food but is ready to compromise.”
Mr Thakur Neeraj Singh of Begum Bazaar lives in a joint family with 24 members. The family consumes 100 kg of onions a month. “We are helpless,” he said.
Mr Ahmed bin Abri, a resident of Hyderabad, said, “Everybody is suffering, hotels are charging `20 for a few slices of onion.”“Chapati and onions make the whole meal for the poor,” said Ms Beyniaz Edulji, a homemaker.
