Onion prices bring tears to the eyes as cost jumps to Rs 80/kg in 2 days

Kolkata: Continuing with the trend of sky-high prices of onions over the last three years (2020, 2021, 2022) from October-end up till mid-November, the price has again shot up, bringing tears to the eyes of consumers across the state.

From Rs 55 per kilogram during Lakshmi Puja, the cost of onion jumped to Rs 70 to Rs 80 per kilogram in the past two days. However, Rabindranath Koley, member of the state task force, said that in the next seven to ten days, the prices are expected to decrease.

According to Koley, the sudden increase in cost may have been due to less rainfall in western side leading to decrease in the amount of onions coming into the Bengal market from Nashik. “This has led to a demand-supply gap and hence the increase in price,” he said. Koley pointed out that under Sufal Bangla, onion cost stands at Rs 55 per kilogram the state is giving it at subsidised rate.

“This is not the first time that onion prices have gone up and neither will it be the last,” a retail vegetable seller at Gariahat Market Shahabuddin Sardar, resident of Basirhat said. He and his mother had bought a kilogram of onion on Tuesday as they had heard rumours of the cost increasing in the coming days.

Sardar is not alone in his desire to buy onions ahead of any further increase in price. According to a vegetable seller in Lake Market Tapan Saha, the number of buyers increases when the cost of onion goes up. “People are afraid to wait another day and keen to save even Rs 20 if they can,” Saha said. According to him, the price may go up till Rs 100 but not more than that.

Apart from onion, the cost of other vegetables like bitter gourd and brinjal also remain on a higher side. According to vegetable sellers at popular retail and wholesale markets across the city, the cost of vegetables will reduce once the winter vegetables enter the market. According to most shopkeepers, the winter vegetables which include palak, green peas, radish and brinjal usually come in after Durga Puja but this year, it seems to have been delayed, hence not giving any relief to customers even after Lakshmi Puja.

Cost of tomatoes per kilogram has increased from Rs 40 per kilogram to Rs 50, cauliflower costs Rs 30-35 per piece, the cost of brinjals has dipped from Rs 100 to Rs 120 per kilogram to Rs 50, and the cost of carrots have dipped from Rs 80 to Rs 60 per kilogram in retail markets. However, according to Sardar, the cost will reduce once cauliflowers grown in Bengal enter the retail market.

A retired elderly person named Alok Moitra who usually buys vegetables from Gariahat market lamented on the increasing cost of vegetables, particularly onion.

“I used to buy one kilogram of onion but after the increase in price, I am now buying 500 grams at most. The government needs to do something to reduce the cost or else living would become difficult for most of us,” he said.

Meanwhile Sanad Kumar Mondal, secretary of Gariahat market refuted the claims being made on increased vegetable costs. He said that after Puja, the cost of vegetables apart from onion has not increased. Instead, the cost of Brinjal per kilogram has decreased from Rs 100 to Rs 50. According to Mondal, the market conditions are controlled by the wholesalers.