After two years of relative stability, onion prices surged in recent weeks despite record arrivals at mandis (marketplaces for farm commodities). Prices have risen because of anticipated supply constraints in the coming months amid unseasonal rainfall in key producing states having decreased shelf-life for stored onions.

Onion prices shot up to ₹1,700 a quintal (100 kg) from ₹1,370 a week ago in Maharashtra’s Lasalgaon mandi.Onion prices in the retail market went up to nearly ₹30 a kg on 11 August from all-India average price of ₹26 in January, according to the data by the consumer affair’s price monitoring division. Consumer affairs secretary Rohit Kumar Singh met managing directors of the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF) on Thursday and finalized the modalities for the disposal.

They decided to release the onion stocks by targeting key markets in states or regions including Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Northeastern states and Andhra Pradesh, to some extent, where retail prices are ruling above the all-India average and where the rate of increase in prices over the previous month and year are above the threshold level.

Disposal through e-auction and retail sales on e-commerce platforms are also being explored. The quantity and pace of disposal will also be calibrated with the prices and availability situations to make onions available to consumers at affordable rates.

Apart from market disposal, the government decided to offer onion to states at discounted rates for sale through retail outlets of their consumer cooperatives and corporations.

In the current year, a total of 300,000 tonnes of onion have been procured for the buffer, which could be enhanced further depending on the situation.

The two central nodal agencies, NAFED and NCCF, procured 150,000 tonnes each of rabi onion during June and July from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

Maharashtra has a share of 43% of the country’s entire onion production, followed by Madhya Pradesh’s 15%, Karnataka’s 9% and Gujarat’s 9% contribution.

This year, irradiation of onion had also been taken up on a pilot basis in collaboration with Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) with the objective of minimizing storage loss. About 1,000 tonnes had been irradiated and stored in controlled atmosphere storage.

In March, Mint reported the Centre is planning to irradiate onions with Gamma rays before sending them into cold storage on a pilot basis to reduce post-harvest losses to 10-12% from the prevailing 25%.

The government has been maintaining an onion buffer to check the volatility in onion prices. The annual buffer has been built by procuring onions from rabi harvest for release in major consumption centres during the lean season. The onion buffer has played a key role in ensuring the availability of onion to consumers at affordable prices and in maintaining price stability. There are two harvesting seasons, with rabi accounting for 65% of India’s total onion output. Rabi onion is harvested in April-June and is stored until the Kharif variety is harvested in October-November to meet the demand of consumers.

Updated: 11 Aug 2023, 11:18 PM IST