more-in The price of onion has seen a steep increase within a month. On Thursday, a kg was selling at ?64 in HOPCOMS against the average of ?45 last month. The rates were in the range of ?53 to ?55 in the beginning of November. HOPCOMS managing director M. Vishwanath said the price rise was owing to a fall in supply. “The production season for onions is over in the State and we have been procuring the vegetable from Nasik. But, owing to heavy rain in Nasik, farmers have been unable to harvest the crop and supply it to Karnataka, resulting in price rise. The situation should return to normal in a week to 10 days,” he said. In retail chains, onion was selling at ?50 on Thursday. “But, the price is likely to increase on Friday and will be on a par with the HOPCOM rates,” said a senior official from a retail chain. In the Bengaluru APMC market, supply of onion has trickled down to less than 30% of normal during this time of the year, said Ravishankar B. of Bengaluru Onion and Potato Merchants’ Association. As against an average of 2.5 lakh sacks during November, we got less than 50,000 sacks this month, he said. The fall in supply is also attributed to massive crop loss during the recent spells of heavy rain in September-October. “This year sowing was delayed by over month. Instead of sowing in June, most farmers in the Chitradurga-Hubballi-Belagavi belt sowed onion in the second half of August. “But the first sowing was ruined, as heavy rain led to water stagnation in the farms. “There was massive crop loss in the second sowing as well owing to rain, bringing down the yield to less than half,” he said. Onion harvest season in Karnataka starts from September and the crop floods the local markets till December. However, this year, the crop from Karnataka has almost stopped reaching the markets and now Karnataka is dependant on other States. There is hope that supply will stabilise by the new year when Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh harvest it. A good yield in these States is likely to ensure onion rates below ?40 by new year. Vegetable prices go up Prices of other vegetables, including carrot, beetroot and drumstick, have also seen an increase. Carrot has been selling between ?80 and ?90 against an average of ?70 last month. The average price of beetroot, which was around ?55 last month, has gone up to ?70 in November. “Carrot and beetroot being root crops were damaged in the recent rain and that is the reason for the increase in their prices,” HOPCOMS managing director M. Vishwanath. Meanwhile, the prices of tomato fell from ?58 to ?48.

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