Onion prices rise amid festive season due to supply shortage

The price of onions has doubled in Delhi-NCR amid the festive season – rising from ₹25-30 per kg to ₹55-60 per kg in the days following Navratri. There are now concerns that the kitchen staple will breach the ₹100-mark in the coming days. Reports citing traders based in the national capital's key vegetable markets stressed the need to urgently address the supply shortage.

Onions were being sold for at ₹25-30 per kg in the national capital till last week. But as supply dwindled, traders said that prices have surged to ₹55-60 per kg over the past three days. In some markets, the rates have jumped to as high as ₹65-70 per kg.Vegetable vendors at the Ghazipur market told ANI that prices could breach the ₹100 mark if the supply shortage was not addressed.An official from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs explained that prices had increased due to the late arrival of fresh harvest from key producing states such as Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

“There is seasonality in the price of onions. Every year, the prices increase in the months of October and November because the stock of the Rabi crop, which comes in April, gradually reduces. The Kharif crop is about to arrive, and it is also the festival season, prices often increase during that period," Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said,This was reiterated by traders at the Ghazipur market, who said that the low inflow of onions has resulted in higher selling rates.Apart from Delhi-NCR, the surge in onion prices has also been witnessed in other markets of the country.