Onion prices to come down soon, says Pawar

AHMEDABAD - Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Saturday said the consumers would soon be relieved of skyrocketing onion prices in the country, as the Central Government is importing vegetables from the neighbouring nations.

While attending the national launch of Core Banking Solutions (CBS) drive of Urban Cooperative Bank’s national meet ‘Coop Core 2010′ in Ahmedabad, Pawar said that the steps taken by the Centre would soon stabalise the situation in the market.

“The government has taken some steps to control the situation. It has stopped export and permitted import (of vegetables). This has stabilised the situation to some extent. And as soon as fresh vegetables reach the markets, I hope the situation would be under control,” he added.

Pawar further said that the export of onions is not the only reason for shortage of vegetable in the country, and asserted that the unseasonal rain is the main reason for mounting prices of onion.

“One month back, we were all saying that vegetable prices including onion was going down. But sudden unseasonal rainfall damaged the crops and vegetables. This has created a temporary problem,” he said.

Following the crackdown by the government and imposition of restrictions on export, the retail and wholesale prices of onion started cooling in various markets across the country.

The prices of onion dropped to Rs. 50-60 a kg in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata on Friday from Thursday’s level of Rs. 60-70 a kg.

Onion prices had doubled to Rs. 70-85 a kg in major cities across the country earlier this week due to damage of crops in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka because of rains as well as hoarding. (ANI)