Cuttack: With onions in Odisha all set to touch Rs 100 per kg mark, traders held out hope that the price of this essential commodity will start to come down in three weeks.
Talking to the media here on Saturday, secretary of Chhatra Bazar Byabasai Sangh Debendra Sahu said there has been a huge loss of onions in Nasik district of Maharashtra and Kurnool and Gudum districts of Andhra Pradesh due to heavy rain. As a result, wholesale traders in Odisha are reluctant to import the onions as most of them are either damaged or rotten. “The situation in Odisha will continue for at least three weeks till the import of onions from Nasik,” he added.
Sahu said that Odisha meets its requirement of onions by usually depending on neighbouring states for 10 months. During April and May, it is self-sufficient due to the harvest of onions in Titlagarh in Balangir district.
At present, the price of onions in the open market in Bhubaneswar is Rs 80-Rs 90 a kg followed by Cuttack (Rs 70-75), Balasore (Rs 80), Berhampur (Rs 80), Rourkela (Rs 75-80) and Puri (Rs 80).