Nashik: The upward trend in onion prices continued on Wednesday, with summer onions touching ₹5,100 per quintal at the Lasalgaon Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC). The price rise has provided an opportunity for farmers who had earlier sold their produce at low rates to recover at least part of their losses.
However, as a large quantity of onions was sold at low prices at the beginning of the season, many farmers currently have only limited stocks left. As a result, the benefits of the present price rise are unlikely to reach farmers to the extent expected.
A total of 8,548 quintals of summer onions arrived at the Lasalgaon APMC on Wednesday. Of the 689 lots auctioned, 538 consisted of good-quality onions, while 151 lots were classified as lower-quality or damaged onions.
Summer onions fetched a minimum price of ₹1,100, a maximum price of ₹5,100 and an average price of ₹4,500 per quintal.
At the beginning of the season, onion prices were extremely low compared with production costs. Many farmers were forced to sell their produce at whatever price was available due to financial pressures and concerns over deterioration during storage.
The current increase in prices has created an opportunity to recover some of those losses. However, many farmers no longer have sufficient stocks of good-quality onions to bring to the market in large quantities.
Meanwhile, changing weather conditions have affected onion quality, while limited arrivals of good-quality produce are supporting market prices.
Although onions crossing the ₹5,000-per-quintal mark has brought relief to farmers, questions remain over whether the current price rise will be sufficient to offset production costs, storage losses and losses incurred through earlier sales at low prices.
