If you have already left using tomato in your cooking, now brace up to abandon the onion as well. As the rising cost of tomatoes has already burnt a hole in the middle class pocket, the onion is going to further add to the woes.
According to CRISIL estimates, the retail price of onion is soon going to settle around Rs 70 a kilo. A ‘topical analysis of food prices’ report brought out by the leading research and analytics firm says, the supply-demand imbalance is expected to reflect in onion prices towards end-August. “As per our ground interactions, prices are expected to show significant increase from early September in the retail market, reaching up to Rs 60-70/kg during the lean patch,” it said.
The rise is being attributed to several reasons, including unseasonal rainfall in the key growing regions during March. This not only affected the quality of onions but also reduced the shelf life of rabi onion from 6 months to 4-5 months, raising storage concerns and induced panic selling among farmers.
Another reason is the Kharif season seeing lesser sowing this year.
Also, in February, there was a major supply of this vegetable in the market — 12 per cent more in comparison to 2022. This led to the lowering of costs.
According to CRISIL research, in terms of acreage onion sowing in this kharif season is likely to be 8 per cent lower when compared with the previous year, while production will decline by 5 per cent year-on-year.
CRISIL further shared in the report that the hike in cost might continue till the production of the late kharif season reaches the markets.
