Onion price touches Rs 150 per kg in Hyderabad

Onion prices have touched Rs 150 kg in Hyderabad. Prices of onion have risen sharply in the last few days as the supply of onion has decreased. As a result, poor and middle-class people in the city are having a tough time in managing their kitchen supplies.

"The onion rates remain high in the city. Upper-class people can afford it but poor people cannot. The government should subsidise the rates so that every section of people can purchase them," a local named Komala told ANI.

While good quality onions were priced at Rs 15,000 per 100 kilogram, normal and low quality was sold at Rs 6,000 per 100 kg. Expressing concern over the price rise, an onion trader in the city said that the government should intervene to reduce the rates.

"The traders who used to purchase five bags now buy only one and people who use to buy five kilogram of onions are now purchasing only half a kilogram. How will poor people buy onions at these rates?" onion trader Srinivas Goud said.

Also Read: 'I don't eat onion': FM Nirmala Sitharaman on skyrocketing onion prices

In a bid to curb skyrocketing onion prices, the state-run MMTC has placed another onion import order of 4,000 tonnes from Turkey. The shipments are likely to reach by January. Meanwhile, the first shipment of 6,090 tonnes of onions from Egypt would arrive in the second week of December.

Onion prices have been on the rise for the last one month due to supply disruption from flood-hit states like Maharashtra.

Also Read: Centre asks states to act against onion hoarders, create buffer stocks

Prices of onion in many cities have crossed Rs 100 per kg due to less production. On Wednesday, the West Bengal government placed an order for 800 tonnes of imported onions with the NAFED, which will be delivered by December-end. In Odisha onion prices have soared to Rs 120 a kg, while in Delhi the rate crossed over Rs 100 per kg.

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar