Onion price still high in India
Retail prices of onion in Delhi and other parts of India continued to remain high yesterday despite government measures, including boosting supplies.
As per data of the consumer affairs ministry, the retail price was ruling at Rs 60 per kilogramme (kg) in cities like Delhi and Lucknow. The rates were Rs 58 in Mumbai, Rs 42 in Chennai, Rs 70 in Kanpur and Rs 80 in Port Blair.
However, trade data showed retail prices of the key kitchen staple were hovering around Rs 70-80 per kg in most parts of the country, depending on quality and region.
Prices have been rising for the last one month due to supply disruption from flood-affected producing states like Maharashtra. The rise was sharp in the last few days due to heavy rains in key growing states.
Prices in Bangladesh surged overnight after traders hiked rates in the wake of restriction imposed by India on shipments of the tuber to other countries to contain its domestic prices.
Bangladesh meets a portion of its annual demand through imports for inadequate domestic production.
Indian Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan tweeted yesterday that the government has adequate stocks and asked state governments to take as much as they wanted.
The Indian government is improving supply in the domestic market by offloading its buffer stock, which stands at about 50,000 tonnes, out of which 15,000 tonnes have been released.
Paswan said the Indian government has so far released 1,850 tonnes to Tripura, 2,000 tonnes to Haryana and 960 tonnes to Andhra Pradesh at the rate of Rs 15.59 per kg. These states will sell to consumers at a maximum rate of Rs 23.90 per kg.
On Tuesday, the minister had indicated that the government would consider imposing stock limit on traders if current high price situation continues in the coming days.
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