Average onion price in Delhi touches Rs 78 per kg; all-India average rate at Rs 50.35 per kg: Govt data

There has been an immediate impact (following the imposition of MEP on onion) of price correction in Maharashtra markets, where prices recorded a decline of 5% to 9% from the highest price registered during last week, according to a statement by the department of consumers affairs.

“The weighted average price of onion in Maharashtra across all the markets has declined by 4.5% and a similar decline was observed in consumption centers as well,” it stated.

The benchmark prices at Lasalgaon, Maharashtra, the hub of the country’s onion declined by 9% to Rs 4254/quintal on Monday from Rs 4663/quintal on Saturday. The mandi prices were Rs 2,350/quintal two weeks back.

“The onion prices have today declined by atleast Rs 500/quintal to Rs 4500/quintal following the government’s move to impose a MEP,” Balasaheb Misal, former director, Manmard (Maharashtra) mandi board and a farmer said

Modal retail prices of onion as per the department of consumer affairs on Monday has increased by 50% to Rs 60/kg from Rs 40/kg a fortnight ago, due to delayed arrivals of kharif harvest in key producing states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

However. the retail prices in the Delhi region have been in the range of Rs 70 to Rs 75/Kg. Prices are likely to decline in the next couple of days, officials said  

The commerce ministry on Saturday had announced a MEP of $ 800/tonne on all varieties of onion except Bangalore Rose and Krishnapuram  and  cut and sliced or broken in powder form till December 31, 2023.  The move follows the imposition of a 40% export duty on onions in August.  

Officials told FE that the move is a virtual ban on onion exports as the MEP of $ 800/tonne which translates into Rs 67/kg, which is above the prevailing retail prices.

This was the first intervention in onion exports since January, 2021. The government has not imposed a ban on onion exports since 2021 which was the norm a few years back.

During April-August of the current fiscal, India has exported 1.15 million tonne (MT) of onion to mostly Bangladesh, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

The government agencies – National Cooperative Consumers Federation of India (NCCF) and the farmers’ cooperative Nafed are currently selling onion from the buffer stock at a highly subsidised rate of Rs 25/kg to consumers in 170 urban centres. These agencies have sold 0.17 MT of kitchen bulb in the market from its buffer of 0.5 MT.

The onion retail inflation rose by 35.82% in September because of supply constraints due to output hit by unseasonal rains early this year in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

NCCF and Nafed would procure an additional 0.2 MT onion for the buffer stock in addition to 0.5 MT already purchased from the farmers.

The estimated production of onion during the 2022-23 crop year (July-June) is around 31.8 MT against 31.7 MT reported in the previous year.