Onion prices touch 50 per kg in city

VISAKHAPATNAM: Onion prices have skyrocketed thanks to a steep shortfall in supplies.
The prices went up by Rs 10 a kg in just a day. A kg of onion was sold for Rs 40 on Saturday. But on Sunday, it’s sold for Rs 50 a kg. The only solace is the rythu bazaars where the state government has fixed the onion price at Rs 20 a kg. The city has a dozen rythu bazaars.
A horticulture department official said, “Supplies from Maharashtra have dropped due to which there is a huge demand-supply gap in AP. The major procurement comes from Maharashtra. A large portion of the crop was damaged due to unseasonal rains.” The state government is procuring onions from Kurnool to supply to rythu bazaars in the city.”
A rythu bazaar official said, “We are procuring around 40 tonnes per day for the last three days from Kurnool. We will continue to supply at subsidised rates.”
Rythu bazaar in the city sells about one tonne of onions daily. But with the demand going up the sales have touched two tonnes a day.
G Narayana Rao, a consumer, complained that the onions sold at rythu bazaars are small and inferior in quality. Another customer Gali Prasad said there are long queues in the rythu bazaars.
“It takes about one hour to get the turn,” he added.