Onion Price: Throughout the festive season, people kept waiting for the prices of onion and tomatoes to fall, but the wait was not over. The rising prices of vegetables have increased the expenses during the wedding season. The general public is continuously getting shocks. The situation is that due to rising prices of food items including onion and tomato, the retail inflation rate in October went out of the range of RBI. The situation is such that in most parts of the country onion has crossed Rs 70 to Rs 80 per kg. At the same time, the price of garlic has crossed Rs 400 per kg. Meanwhile, the prices of tomatoes have come down slightly, but onion is still rising towards the seventh sky.
When will onion become cheaper?
People are waiting to know when there will be relief in onion prices. According to a senior official of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, onion prices may soften in a few days. Actually, onion prices are expected to fall after the arrival of Kharif crop in the market. Due to low yield of onion in Rabi crop, onion supply was affected due to rain and floods, due to which there has been a big increase in onion prices.
Relief in tomato prices, reached Rs 52 per kg
The central government says that the price of tomatoes has decreased by about 22 percent. According to the government, the price of tomatoes has come down due to increase in supply. Due to decrease in the price of tomato in the market, the retail price is also decreasing. The all India average retail price of tomato on November 14 was Rs 52.35 per kg. This is 22.4 percent less than Rs 67.50 per kg on October 14. Meanwhile, due to increase in the arrival of tomatoes, the prices in Azadpur mandi dropped by almost 50 percent from Rs 5,883 per quintal to Rs 2,969 per quintal.
Similar decline in mandi prices has also been reported from benchmark markets like Pimpalgaon, Madanapalle and Kolar. According to the estimates of the Agriculture Department, the total annual production of tomatoes in 2023-24 is 213.20 lakh tonnes. This is 4 percent more than 204.25 lakh tonnes in 2022-23. Although tomatoes are produced throughout the year, there are seasonal changes in production areas and production quantities.
Effect on vegetable prices
Adverse weather conditions and even minor disruptions in supply have a significant impact on tomato prices. The surge in tomato prices in October was due to excessive and prolonged rains in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The general seasonality of tomato production in different regions of India shows that production in major tomato producing states peaks in October and November. However, due to the short period of crop cultivation and several breaks in tomato harvest, there is a constant availability of tomatoes in the market.
According to the central government, arrivals at major tomato hubs like Madanapalle and Kolar have declined, but prices have declined due to seasonal arrivals from states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. This seasonal arrival is filling the supply shortage of tomatoes across the country.
