Considering the price decline, many retail shops which had purchased huge amounts of onion, expecting the price to rise further, were offering 5kg of onion for Rs 390-400.
BENGALURU: The government’s onion ‘price brake’ strategy has worked — the price of onions dropped to Rs 50 from Rs 55 in the wholesale market, although in many retail shops, it was ruling at Rs 80 per kg. Considering the price decline, many retail shops which had purchased huge amounts of onion, expecting the price to rise further, were offering 5kg of onion for Rs 390-400. One online retail outlet was offering 5kgs of onion at Rs 380 instead of Rs 480, which was the price a couple of days ago.
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Sources said the onion crop has been available with farmers in Karnataka and southern Maharashtra, and farmer groups were expecting the price to go up. They were inspired to wait on hearing news that some excellent onion crop in Vijayapura had been traded at Rs 100 per kg a few days ago.
Ravi Balakrishna, a wholesale trader at Bengaluru’s APMC, told TNIE that news of onion price touching Rs 100 had prompted several farmers to return from the markets with their stocks, as they expected even higher wholesale prices.
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‘Price brake’ policy
“The government had to act fast. It intervened in the matter of exports, which is at the policy level, and then at actual retail market strategy level, and announced that retail mobile kiosks would sell onions at Rs 25 per kg soon. Farmers who were hoarding their produce started panicking and dumping onions in the market, hoping to get whatever price they could,” he said.
Farmer leader Kurubur Shantakumar said the government was going ahead with the ‘price brake’ policy due to elections to five states. “We don’t fault them, but they but should also keep the vulnerable farmer in mind. Should they not offer a minimum price guarantee for crops where prices are extremely low? The farmer has lost a chance to make money considering there is an onion shortfall,” he said.
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Sources said the government’s strategy appears to have worked because it has staved off an imminent price rise by causing panic selling by farmers.
The inflow into the Bengaluru market was 86,000 bags on Friday and 79,000 bags on Thursday, compared with 52,000 bags on Wednesday and 46,000 bags last Thursday, when farmers were clearly waiting it out.
Commodity experts said if the price doesn’t shoot up in the next few days, it will remain stable for the next four weeks, and will not be a factor in the elections. By then, the onion crop in Rajasthan and other places would be ready for harvest.
