Cooperatives slash onion prices in Delhi to Rs30-32/kg

Cooperative majors National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Fedration of India Limited (Nafed) and National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India (NCCF) today lowered onion prices for vendors in Delhi by upto Rs5 at Rs30-32/kg but open market prices continued to rule high across the country.

Maintaining yesterday's level, onions were sold at Rs30-50 per kg in retail in the metros except Chennai where the rate ruled at Rs60/kg today, traders said.

Agri-cooperative Nafed, which had intervened to provide relief to consumers by selling onions at subsidised rate of Rs35 per kg, lowered the price from today to Rs30/kg.

"Our five outlets and 20 mobile vans are selling onion at the rate of Rs30 per kg in Delhi from today," managing director of Nafed Sanjeev Chopra told Press Trust of India.

NCCF has also dropped the price to Rs32/kg.

"NCCF have been selling onion at the rate of Rs32/kg for the past three days...we may further dip the rate after assessing market trend this evening," managing director of NCCF MK Khan said.

NCCF managing director have been selling onions through 10 outlets in the national capital and also started mobile vans.

The Nafed attributed drop in prices to boost in the supply particularly due to arrival of the bulb from Pakistan.

Official sources said that the third consignment of 188 tonnes of onions ordered by the government from the neighbouring country landed at Mundra port in Gujarat yesterday.

With this arrival, a total of 814 tonnes of onions from Pakistan have reached India so far to reinforce the domestic supply.

State-agencies PEC and State Trading Corporation (STC) had contracted 1,000 tonnes of onions from Pakistan to mitigate the crisis triggered by short supply resulting in prices soaring to Rs 70-85 per kg in major cities in December last.

"The rest 186 tonnes of onions from Pakistan will also arrive in the country soon," the sources said.

Sources in Nafed office at Azadpur (where onions coming from Pakistan are stored and made available to the cooperatives and surplus stocks sold in the open market) said a total of 240 tonnes of onions from the neighbouring country have reached so far.

Pak onions are coming to Delhi by road from Mundra port in Kutch district of Gujarat.

Wholesale price of onions maintained yesterday's level of Rs12-32 per kg in Azadpur market (Asia's biggest wholesale fruits & vegetables market), general secretary of Onion Merchants Association, Rajendra Sharma said.

Cost of another vital produce tomato, which had risen to the level of onions early this week, also stayed steady in the metros today at Rs30-60/kg in retail.