Excessive rain has ruined crop in major onion producing states like Maharashtra (AFP pic)
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today said onion prices will come down in the next two to three weeks.
Onion prices have risen back to the Rs. 90 a kg in Delhi owing to a supply crunch. Consumers in other parts of the country have also been affected by the rise in onion prices. In some of the major cities, onion is being sold at Rs. 60-80 per kg in retail markets.
The supply of onion has been affected by unseasonal rains in key producing states like Maharashtra, which damaged the
kharif crop.
Mr Pawar said, "The Food Minister has invited me for a meeting in Delhi tomorrow Govt of India to discuss onion prices tomorrow Monsoon has been good this year but extensive rainfall has hit supply." The government was looking at importing onions from Egypt and China, he said.
The government has taken several measures to check rising onion prices in the last three months. In August, a minimum export price (MEP) of $650 per tonne was imposed and this was hiked to $900 per tonne in September.
Due to curbs, onion exports fell by 28 per cent to 7,16,246 tonnes in the first six months of the current fiscal.
Currently, onion supplies are less than 50 per cent of the country's monthly estimated demand of 9-10 lakh tonnes. India produced 163 lakh tonnes of onion last year.