Wholesale onion prices have turned volatile in Maharashtra even after the Centre banned exports of the bulb on September 14. In some major APMCs onions have touched the pre-ban rate of ₹4,000 per quintal, while in other places it dropped to as low as ₹1,000.
However, for the retail customer there is no respite with prices ranging between ₹50 and ₹60 per kg.
Nitin Jain, an onion trader from Lasalgaon APMC, the largest onion market in the country, said that the market is coming back to the pre-export days and is getting stabilised.
All the produce coming to markets are from the warehouses and storage facility. No fresh harvest is coming to the market, he said.
On other hand, prices in Kolhapur APMC on Wednesday had dipped to ₹1,000 per quintal.
Mohan Salpe, Secretary of Kolhapur APMC, said that farmers started to protest as the prices hit such lows and traders suspended the trading for some time.